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The Expenditure Parliament Cannot Vote On

On Sunday, February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2026-27—the first time India’s Budget will be tabled on a weekend. With this, Parliament’s most critical financial instrument, the Appropriation Bill, will come into play. The bill authorizes the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for the fiscal […]

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Independent India’s First Budget

On 26 November 1947 a tall man, impeccably dressed in a suit, carrying a leather briefcase, posed for the cameras in a rather stoic fashion. He then walked into the Parliament building to make history. R K Shanmukham Chetty, India’s first Finance Minister, was familiar with all the faces in Parliament that day. The last […]