Ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on 1 February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the ‘Union Budget Mobile App‘ for hassle-free access to Budget-related documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the public. It is the first time that the budget will be delivered in a paperless form.
The customary’Halwa ceremony’, marking the final stage of the process of making the Union Budget 2021-22, was held in North Block on Saturday afternoon in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Union Finance Minister was accompanied by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur; Dr A.B. Pandey, Finance Secretary & Secretary (Revenue); T.V. Somanathan, Secretary, Expenditure; Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Economic Affairs; Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, DIPAM; Debashish Panda, Secretary, Financial Services; Dr K.V. Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor; Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary (Budget) and other officials of the Ministry.
After the Halwa ceremony, the employees who are a part of the budget-making process move to the basement of North Block for around 10 days and emerge once the Finance Minister presents the budget. This is done to prevent any leaks before the budget is presented.
The budget session of parliament begins on January 29.
Here is all you need to know about the Union Budget Mobile App
1) The mobile App facilitates complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc. as prescribed by the Constitution.
2) The app has a user-friendly interface with embedded features of downloading, printing, search, zoom in and out, bidirectional scrolling, table of contents and external links, etc.
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3) It is bilingual (English & Hindi) and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. The App can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in).
4) The app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the guidance of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).
5) The Budget documents will be available on the Mobile App after the completion of the Budget Speech by the Finance Minister in Parliament on 1 February, 2021.
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