Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her first interim budget on 1 February 2024. However, in the history of India, there have been many Finance Ministers who could not present the budget, while many Prime Ministers also presented the budget.
Jawaharlal Nehru was not only the first Prime Minister of the country, but he was also the first Prime Minister who presented the country’s budget. When the Justice Chagla Commission found T.T. Krishnamachari guilty of corruption, he resigned from the post of Finance Minister and Pandit Nehru presented the budget for 1958-59.
After Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi also presented the country’s budget while being the Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi presented the budget in 1970 after Morarji Desai resigned from the Finance Ministry. She also became the first woman Finance Minister of the country. After him Nirmala Sitharaman became the country’s first full-time woman Finance Minister.
After Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, while holding the post of Prime Minister, also presented the budget of the country. In the year 1987-88, V.P. Singh resigned from the post of Finance Minister and after that Rajiv Gandhi had to take this responsibility. After him Narayan Dutt Tiwari became the Finance Minister of the country.
Narayan Dutt Tiwari is among those Finance Ministers of the country who could not present the country’s budget while in office. He was the Chief Minister of states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Later he was also made the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna was the Finance Minister for about 5 and a half months in Indira Gandhi’s government. But during this period the country’s budget was not presented and despite being the Finance Minister, he could not present the country’s budget.
The country’s second Finance Minister Kshitij Chandra Niyogi also could not present the budget during his tenure. He remained in his post only for 35 days. He was also the chairman of the country’s first Finance Commission.
