Nirmala goes paperless for budget speech

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman discarded the usual papers for her budget day speech on Monday as she went digital with a tablet to score another first after having discarded the colonial era briefcase for a traditional <em>bahi khata</em> or ledger while presenting her previous budgets.</p>
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This morning, as she went to call on the President, the finance minister was seen carrying a tablet in a red sleeve with the national emblem in gold embossed on it.</p>
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Reports said the tablet was a "Made in India" device. She had said, it was high time to shed the "British hangover". Besides, it was easier to carry the <em>bahi khata</em>.</p>
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The paperless Budget, presented amid restrictions because of Covid, is also seen to be a push for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Digital India" mission.</p>
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This year, the Finance Minister has launched the "Union Budget Mobile App" to enable MPs and people to access Budget documents easily. Ever since Independence, India's finance ministers had always carried briefcases, which was a continuation of the British tradition.</p>
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Another, British tradition discarded by the Modi government is that of presenting the budget in the evening to match it with the timing in Britain has also been discarded and the budget is now presented in the morning.</p>