All you need to know about India’s first Sunday Budget
New Delhi: This year’s Budget is drawing special attention because it is being presented on a Sunday. While Sunday is normally a holiday, Parliament will function as usual for the Budget presentation.
India's Union Budget is presented on February 1 each year, a practice that began in 2017. The idea behind this change was to give Parliament enough time to discuss, approve and put Budget proposals into action before the new financial year begins on April 1. Earlier, Budgets were usually presented at the end of February.
A similar situation arose in 1999, when February 28 fell on a Sunday. To avoid presenting the Budget on a holiday, then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, presented it a day earlier on February 27, a Saturday.
Until 1999, Union Budgets were presented in the evening, around 5 pm. This practice came from British colonial times, when announcements were timed to suit working hours in London.
Yashwant Sinha changed this tradition by presenting the Budget at 11 am. Since then, 11 am has remained the standard time for Budget presentations in India.
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Union Budget: Five regional medical hubs to be set up to boost medical tourism in country
New Delhi (PTI): Giving an impetus to medical tourism, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed launching a scheme to support states in establishing five regional medical hubs in partnership with the private sector.
These hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities, Sitharaman said presenting the budget 2026-27.
They will have AYUSH centres, medical value tourism facilitation centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post care and rehabilitation, she stated.
These hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals, including doctors, and allied health professionals, she said.
Emphasising that post Covid, Ayurveda has gained global acceptance and recognition like yoga, Sitharaman also announced setting up of three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda to strengthen research in the field.
"Ancient Indian yoga, already respected in several parts of the world, was given a mass global recognition when the prime minister took it to the UN," she said.
Exploring quality Ayurveda products helps farmers who grow herbs and youth who process the products, she said.
Besides setting up the three All India Institutes of Ayurveda, upgrading Ayush pharmacies and drug testing labs for higher standards of certification ecosystem has been proposed in the Budget.
She also called for upgrading the WHO Global Traditional Medicine centre in Jamnagar to bolster evidence-based research, training and awareness for traditional medicine.
