Union Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget on Tuesday, July 23, which will be the first comprehensive budget since the BJP-led NDA government won a third consecutive term earlier this year. Notably, Sitharaman holds the record for delivering the longest budget speech in Parliament to date, highlighting the significance of this occasion.
Look at some of the longest Union Budget speeches in history:
- Nirmala Sitharaman (2020-2021): Sitharaman delivered the longest budget speech lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes. During the 2020 Union Budget on February 1, she began her presentation at 11 am and continued until 1:40 pm, speaking for an impressive two hours and 40 minutes. Her speech was cut short due to health concerns, with only two pages remaining. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla took over to complete the rest of the budget reading.
- Nirmala Sitharaman (2019-2020): In her first budget speech for the year 2019-2020, Sitharaman spoke for 2 hours and 17 minutes. In 2022, her speech lasted for one and a half hours, making it her shortest-ever budget presentation.
- Jaswant Singh (2003-2004): The record for the longest Union Budget speech was previously held by then-Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in 2003. His speech lasted 2 hours and 13 minutes, making it the third-longest budget speech so far.
- Arun Jaitley (2014-2015): The fourth longest Union Budget speech was delivered by Arun Jaitley in 2014, lasting for 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The record for the most words in a budget speech belongs to Manmohan Singh, who delivered an 18,650-word speech in 1991 when he served as the Finance Minister of the Narasimha Rao government. This speech included significant announcements regarding the liberalisation of the Indian economy. In 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's speech comprised 18,604 words.
On the other end of the spectrum, the shortest budget speech was in 1977 by Finance Minister Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel, with only 800 words.
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