First woman finance minister, while presenting budget she said- 'Sorry'!
Only a few more days are left for the presentation of Budget 2025. This year's budget is going to be special in many ways. Especially for small investors and the common man. Actually, this budget will be the second full budget of the third term of the Modi government. It will be presented to the country by the current Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This will be Nirmala Sitharaman's eighth budget as Finance Minister. But, do you know about the woman who presented the budget for the first time as Finance minister in front of the country. Let's know about it in detail.
The first woman finance minister of the country
The first woman finance minister of the country was Indira Gandhi. This is about 1969. At this time Indira Gandhi's government was in the country and the Finance Ministry was with the then Deputy prime minister Morarji Desai. But, when morarji desai rebelled against indira gandhi, the congress party expelled him from the party on 12 november 1969. After morarji desai left, the post of Finance minister became vacant. The country's budget was to be presented after three months, so the party did not feel right in trusting a new data-face.
While being the prime minister, indira gandhi also kept the Finance Ministry with herself. Then comes the date of 28 february 1970, when a woman presented the country's budget in Parliament. indira gandhi presented the budget for the first and last time, which was recorded in history. After indira gandhi, nirmala sitharaman is the first woman to become a full-time female Finance Minister.
Why did she say excuse me?
On 28 february 1970, at 5 pm, when indira gandhi stood in parliament to present the budget, the congress MPs welcomed her with applause. She started reading the budget, but then she stopped in between and said excuse me. As soon as she said this, there was silence in the House. people wondered what indira gandhi was going to do. However, after a few seconds indira gandhi smiled and said, 'Sorry, this time I am going to put a burden on the pockets of cigarette smokers.' Actually, indira gandhi had planned to increase revenue in the general budget, due to which she had increased the tax on cigarettes by about 7 times. The tax which was earlier 3% was increased to 22%.