New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has emphasised that the President’s address at the beginning of the Budget session is not merely a tradition but a significant message that guides the entire nation.
Speaking ahead of the parliamentary Budget session, Birla wrote on the social media platform X, “The Budget session of Parliament starts today at 11 am with the President, Draupadi Murmu, addressing the joint sitting of both Houses. The President’s address is not just a tradition but an important message that guides the nation. It outlines the future policies, decisions, and programmes of the country, reflecting the essence of the developmental journey for the coming year.”
He added, “This address reflects the core spirit of democracy, where the aspirations of the people form the basis of policymaking, and Parliament has the responsibility to implement them.”
Birla also shared a video detailing the history of India’s Union Budget. The video explained that at the time of independence, India’s economy was fragile. The first Union Budget of 1947-48 was approximately ₹197 crore, while the economy stood at around ₹2.78 lakh crore. The focus then was on food security, administration, and initiating basic infrastructure.
The video highlighted that during the 1960s and 1970s, the Green Revolution led to increased investment in the public sector and rural India, achieving self-sufficiency in food grains. Post the economic reforms of 1991, the direction of the budget changed significantly.
With the contribution of millions of citizens, India’s economy grew rapidly. The 1991-92 Union Budget was about ₹1 lakh crore, and the economy reached nearly $270 billion. By 2000-01, budget expenditure rose to ₹3-4 lakh crore with a GDP of around $468 billion. In 2010-11, the budget was ₹10-12 lakh crore, and GDP reached $1.67 trillion. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-21 budget was nearly ₹35 lakh crore, with GDP at $2.67 trillion.
Today, India’s Union Budget has crossed ₹50 lakh crore, and the economy has grown to over $4 trillion—an increase of nearly 25,000 times since the first budget. While the initial budgets focused mainly on meeting basic needs, the current budget prioritises infrastructure, expressways, railways, airports, Digital India initiatives, startups, defence production, green energy, AI, data centres, semiconductors, manufacturing, and an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
This evolution reflects India’s growing economic strength and strategic priorities as it continues its development path.
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