By being the first finance minister in Independent India to shift the timing of the Budget from the evening to the morning, Mr Sinha has gone back to a pre-Independence time table. Ironically, many perceived this as a "swadeshi" act, because it was widely believed that the 5.00 pm timing of presentation was influenced by the convenience of the British government in London. When it is 5.00 in India, it was time for the House of Commons to convene in London. This was in fact not the case, as we shall learn below.

BUDGETARY HISTORY

The first Budget speech in India was read out by James Wilson, the first Finance Member of the Legislative Council on February 13, 1860. While the Council itself was established under the Charter Act of 1853, the financial department of the government of India was created in 1843-44. It was, however, only in 1860 that a budget was presented to the Council by the Finance Member.

Constitutional historian S S More notes in his book on "Practice and Procedure of Indian Parliament" (Thacker & Co Ltd, Bombay, 1960), that Mr Wilson "delivered a great speech on that occasion in the high traditional style of the British Chancellor of Exchequer and enunciated at length the basic principles on which the financial policy of the British in India was to be founded."

Till 1892, budgets were never discussed, not to mention voted upon, they were merely presented. It was the Councils Act of 1892 that authorised the Governor General of India-in-Council to frame rules authorising the discussion of the Annual Financial Statement. Even this discussion was highly constrained by rules but Indian members of the Council used the opportunity to make their voices heard.

Protesting against this restriction on freedom, Surendranath Banerjee, President of the Eleventh Session of the Indian National Congress in Poona, 1895, said: "No taxation without representation is the theory of modern civilised government...Englishmen are our teachers. At their feet we have learnt those constitutional principles which have moulded the government of civilised worlds, and which we hope will one day be incorporated in the government of this country."

The nationalist leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale made it his mission to secure the right to vote on budget proposals. In 1907, the government of India issued a circular to the local governments and administrations inviting their opinion on a proposal to invite members of the Council to move resolutions on budget proposals. The Council Regulations of 1909 gave the members the right to discuss and move resolutions recommending modifications in the items of the budget but not the right to vote.

A limited right to vote on some parts of the budget was given in 1919. But it was only in 1935 that the government of India Act, 1935, gave the members the right to vote on the budget. Even this right was restricted by the veto power of the Governor General who could reject a vote and not give his assent to a proposal voted by the members. Parliament's sovereign right over the Finance Bill was granted only in Free India in 1947.

BUDGET DAY AND TIMING

Budget day in India was certainly a legacy of the Raj. Since the financial year began on April 1, the Budget was presented on any day reasonably ahead of that. Between 1860 and 1892 there was no fixed day as such. While Mr Wilson himself opted for February 13, 1860, his successor chose April 27 instead. After 1892 budgets began to get presented on some day in March. With passage of time, March 1 came to be adopted as a convenient and normal day for budget presentation. Till 1920, then, budget speeches were made on the first day of March and not the last day of February, as now.

The Indian Legislative Rules, 1920 explicitly provided, for the first time, that the `budget should be presented on such day or days as the Governor-General might appoint'. This day happened to be March 1, between 1920 and 1924. A consistent trend had been set. At this time some Indian legislators insisted that the financial year should begin from October 1, after the impact of the monsoons on the economy was assessed. This argument has been repeatedly made. However, with the share of agriculture in national income declining and with the impact of monsoons on economic activity also declining, this idea has run out of steam.

In 1924, a leap year, the then finance minister Sir Basil Blackett, opted to present his budget on the evening of February 29, with the debate on the budget taken up the following morning. His reasoning was as follows:

"If precedent had been followed, I should not now be opening my Budget. It has been the practice in past years for the financial statement to be made on the morning of the 1st March and to be followed immediately by a motion for leave to introduce the Financial Bill. This year, I propose to introduce the Financial Bill on the 1st March, as usual, but I make my financial statement tonight out of regard for the convenience of almost every one concerned, except perhaps, the Finance Minister. The commercial community will be glad of the opportunity to study the budget announcements overnight instead of in the middle of a busy day; and I am also glad to afford some slight relief to the devoted band of officials who work on all night in order to bring a new financial statement into the world in the morning."

Sir Basil set a tradition which was followed for nearly three quarters of a century till Yashwant Sinha became the finance minister. Some believe that Mr Sinha opted for a morning presentation to make the point that the Bharatiya Janata Party was finally departing from a colonial tradition of linking the budget presentation time to London time. However, the morning time was in fact the original colonial time and the shift to the evening was in fact induced by a concern for finance ministry staff and the hope that parliamentary debate would be better informed by an overnight reading of the annual financial statement.

It is a moot point if parliamentary debate has become any richer with members getting even more time now to educate themselves. But we in the print media certainly appreciate the new time, since we can get our edition out on time without having to burn midnight oil!