Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made history by presenting her seventh consecutive budget for the financial year 2024-25. Many announcements have been made for youth and students in the budget, one of which is to increase the limit of education loan. E-vouchers for loans up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education in domestic institutions will be given directly to 1 lakh students every year for an annual interest rebate of 3% of the loan amount.

-In the Union Budget 2024-25, there is a proposal to amend the Model Skill Loan Scheme to help 25,000 students every year.

-The central government will give one month's salary to the youth who are employed for the first time. This amount will be up to Rs 15 thousand and will be given in three installments. Registration with EPFO ​​​​is mandatory.

Desai still holds the record for presenting the budget the most number of times, having presented a total of 10 budgets, including interim and Union. Sitharaman will turn 65 next month. She was made the first full-time woman finance minister of India in 2019. This year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed the government for the second consecutive time at the Centre. Since then, Sitharaman has presented six consecutive budgets, including an interim one in February this year. The full budget for the financial year 2024-25 will be her seventh consecutive budget.

Facts related to presenting the budget in independent India

The first general budget of independent India was presented on 26 November 1947 by the country's first finance minister RK Shanmukham Chetty.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai has presented a total of 10 budgets as finance minister during the tenure of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and later Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the budget on nine occasions.

Pranab Mukherjee presented eight budgets during his tenure as finance minister.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the budget five times in a row between 1991 and 1995, when he was the finance minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government.

Longest and shortest speeches

The longest budget speech was given by Sitharaman on February 1, 2020, lasting two hours and 40 minutes. The interim budget speech of Hirubhai Muljibhai Patel in 1977 is the shortest speech ever, with only 800 words.