Nirmala Sitharaman to present Union Budget 2024 in paperless format

As the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her seventh Union Budget 2024 the Monsoon Session of Parliament will commence on July 22 reported news agency ANIWith the presentation of this years budget Sitharaman will establish herself as the first Finance Minister to present seven consecutive budgets breaking the record of Morarji Desais six budget presentationsDesai who was the countrys Finance Minister from 1959 to 1964 presented a record six budgets for the country of which five were full budgets and one was an interim budgetLike the previous few full Union Budgets Budget 2024 will also be delivered in paperless form An Interim Union Budget 2024 was presented on February 1 as the country was due for general elections reported ANIAs part of the budget preparation the Finance Ministry has completed several rounds of deliberations with different stakeholders of the economyThese meetings started on June 20 during which Sitharaman met representatives from trade unions the education and health sectors employment and skilling MSMEs trade and services industry economists the financial sector and capital markets as well as representatives from the infrastructure energy and urban sectors reported ANIDuring the meetings economists discussed several critical issues such as boosting capital expenditure and reducing the fiscal deficitThe group of economists suggested to the ministry that the focus should be on reducing the fiscal deficit in the upcoming Union Budget 2024 along with the need to generate employment growthThe industry body the Confederation of Indian Industry CII suggested that the government increase capital expenditure in the upcoming budget The economists also emphasised the need to enhance capital expenditureFarmer associations urged the Finance Minister to enhance the budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector Representatives from the skilling and employment sectors suggested ways to skill the youth for better utilization of the workforceThis years Monsoon Session will have 19 sittings until August 12 The Modi government is expected to present six bills among which the Aircraft Act and Parliaments nod for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir are prominentThe government will also present the Finance Bill after the announcement of the budget on July 23 Among the other bills the disaster management law the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 the Boilers Bill the Coffee Promotion and Development Bill and the Rubber Promotion and Development Bill will be tabled in this years Monsoon SessionThe Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 will replace the Aircraft Act of 1934 and streamline regulations in the civil aviation sector aiding industry players in the sectorThe interim budget tabled on February 1 addressed the financial needs of the intervening period until a government was formed after the Lok Sabha polls after which a full budget was supposed to be presented by the new government in July reported ANIThe Union Budget 2024 documents will be available on the Union Budget Mobile App for hasslefree access to budget documents by Members of Parliament MPs and the publicThe app is bilingual English and Hindi and is available on both Android and iOS platforms The app can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal wwwindiabudgetgovinWith inputs from ANI