The preparation of the Union budget for the year 2021 is in its final stages. Ahead of the release of the Union Budget on 1 February, the ministry observed the customary Halwa ceremony inaugurated by Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The ceremony took place in the North Block of New Delhi on 23 January.
At the same ceremony, the finance minister also released the first-ever union budget mobile app in the wake of introducing a paperless budget.
Why A Paperless Budget?
It is the first time in the history of Indian democracy that the union budget is going to be completely electronic. The decision was taken considering the COVID 19 guidelines since nearly 100 people are needed to gather together at the press to print the budget for around a fortnight.
Under the fear of pandemic, both the houses of parliaments Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have approved of the initiative. Even the Halwa ceremony was on the verge of cancellation before the government decided to go ahead with it anyway.
Besides, an app will also ease the accessibility of the budget to members of parliament as well as the common public.
What Are Some Features Of The App?
The union budget mobile app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) according to the guidelines given by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). The app will be available both in English and Hindi and will be available for android as well as IOS users.
The app has a very simple and user friendly interface containing basic features like zoom in and out, search, bidirectional scrolling, table of contents, external links in addition to the options of downloading and printing.
This mobile app will give full access to all the 14 union budget documents along with Annual Financial Statement or the Budget, Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill, etc, as prescribed by the Constitution.
One can also download the app from the official website of the union budget. All the documents related to the budget will be uploaded in the app on 1st February as soon as the Finance Minister is done with her Budget speed.
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