Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister of India was all set to present the budget for financial year 2017-2018 on February 1, 2017. However, the demise of Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister, E Ahamed last night has led to a speculation that the budget may be postponed by one day. The parliamentarian passed away due to a cardiac arrest. The final call as to whether the presentation should be postponed or not, lies with the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan.
It was only in 2012, when current President, Pranab Mukherjee was the Finance Minister that the budget presentation was postponed til all state elections were over. While this year as well, several political parties petitioned for postponing the announcement, Jaitley was hellbent on completing the task on the decided date itself.
There are several changes made this year like including the Rail Budget in the Union Budget itself. However, what most people have been looking forward to is whether or not the demonetization will have a massive impact in the coming year. As of now, the question is whether Jaitley will, after all, be presenting today or not. The decision is likely to be taken by 10 am.