Once while presenting the budget, Indira Gandhi apologized to the parliament, presented a 'black budget'.

Union Budget 2024: The Union Finance Minister will present the Interim Budget on 1 February 2024. This will be her sixth budget as a woman finance minister. Whenever the budget is presented, people have a lot of expectations from the budget because many types of schemes are also announced during this time. But budgeting doesn't always have to be in your favor. If we look at the history of the country's budget, there was a time when the entire country was facing such an economic crisis that the then finance minister had to present a 'black budget'. Let's learn about this incident along with the history of the budget

The budget of the year 1973-74 is called the Black Budget

In India, the budget of the year 1973-74 is called the Black Budget. At that time there was a Congress government in the country and Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the country. In the year 1971, there was a war between India and Pakistan. At that time the condition of the country was very bad. The country was facing an economic crisis. Also due to bad monsoon there was drought in the country. Due to these circumstances, the expenditure of the government far exceeded its earnings and the economy of the country suffered a lot. Then the then finance minister Yashwant Rao B Chavan had to present the black budget of the country.

In this budget Rs. There was a loss of 550 crores. At that time, the then finance minister Yashwantrao Chavan in his budget speech said that the budgetary deficit has increased due to the situation caused by drought and drastic reduction in food grain production in the country. So the situation has arisen to introduce black budget. Since then this budget is called Black Budget.

What is Black Budget?

When the government spends more than it earns, the government has to make cuts. Such a budget is called a black budget. Suppose the government revenue is Rs. 500 and it costs Rs. 550, the government will make several cuts in its budget to meet this deficit. Such a budget is called a black budget. Black budget has been introduced only once in independent India till date. At that time, the Indian government presented a deficit budget of 550 crores.

Indira Gandhi apologized to Parliament

On 28 February 1970, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, as Finance Minister with the title of PM, presented the country's general budget. Everyone was aware of Indira Gandhi's temperament, especially her stern tone. When Indira said "Excuse me" in her budget speech, most members of the Lok Sabha were surprised to hear this. They started wondering what was going to happen now, before which Indira Gandhi apologized. Indira Gandhi wanted to increase the country's income, so she increased the duty on cigarettes from 3 to 22 percent in her budget. Hence he apologized before increasing the duty. After increasing this duty, the revenue of the government increased by 13.50 crore rupees. Then in 1973-74, the then Finance Minister Yashwantrao Chavan presented the Black Budget.