As he delivered the Union Budget for 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley broke with the usual tradition of presenting the budget in English and also spoke in Hindi, marking a first since India first gained its independence. A calendar event for the central government, the budget had previously always been presented by the Finance Minister in English. However, the BJP, of which Jaitley is a member, presents itself as a government meant for the common people, something it wishes to emphasize before 2019.
The Union Budget 2018-19 is not just the Narendra Modi government’s last full-fledged budget ahead of 2019 General Elections, it is also its last chance to fulfill a promise it made before the previous elections — higher tax relief to families caring for the differently-abled.
This is not the only change that the Modi government has introduced to the storied proceedings. Scrapping the colonial-era tradition of presenting the Union Budget at the end of February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had for the first time presented the annual accounts on February 1 last year.
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