Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before presenting the Union Budget 2016-17. PTI/FileCome Thursday, and all eyes will be on Arun Jaitley's briefcase. It carries key documents that will chart the course of the country's growth the next fiscal. Will the budget bring a smile to the faces or add to the existing woes? To know that, Arun Jaitley has to open the briefcase in the Parliament.
Given the importance of the documents inside it, the briefcase is always in the limelight. It is common for finance ministers to show off their brief case for photographers before they enter the Parliament. There are several stories on why the documents are kept in the briefcase and about the little bag itself.
Some curious facts
* The word budget comes from the French word 'bougette' or leather bag
* Budget documents were brought in a red leather bag for the first time in England by finance minister Willian Gladstone in 1860
* The bag had the British queen's monogram embossed in gold over it
* Inspired by Gladstone's budget box, India too started using a box to carry budget papers
* Though new briefcases are used for every budget in India, from 1860 to 2010 Britain used Gladstone's box (It was not used for four budgets, in 1964, 1967, 1997 and 2007)
* Gladstone's budget box was officially retired for good due to its fragility in 2010
* In independent India too, as a sign of the colonial tradition, first finance minister RK Shanmugham came to the Parliament with a budget box on November 26, 1947.
* Finance minister TT Krishnamachari came to the Parliament with a file bag
* The current tradition of bringing the budget papers in a briefcase began in 1970
* Yashwant Sinha carried a designer leather bag with buckles and straps in 1989-99
* Manmohan Singh came with a black box to present the crucial 1991 budget
* Only Pranab Mukherjee's bag had close resemblance to the British budget box, but without the royal monogram
* Both P Chidambaram and Arun Jaitely use mostly similar briefcases
* Since the budget is an important financial document, it is kept in a box to maintain its secrecy
* This year, breaking tradition, the budget box might turn pink. The cover of the Economic Survey that emphasized women’s empowerment was in pink color
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