Hyderabad: The first budget in the second innings of the Narendra Modi government will be presented to the Lok Sabha on 5 July.
Once approved, the General Budget will replace the Interim Budget presented by the then finance minister Piyush Goyal ahead of the elections.
As many of you may not be aware, the preparation of the Budget involves thousands of Central government employees working across the country.
The pan-India exercise is overseen by a six-member strong core team sitting in North Block in New Delhi. Let us find out who are they.
1. Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman is India’s first full-time female finance minister. And, her previous stint in the ministry as a Junior Minister would certainly help her in the presentation of the current budget.
In her capacity as the country’s finance minister, Sitharaman is primarily responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Budget in the Parliament. She ensures promises made by the BJP and the Prime Minister during elections are translated into programmes through the Budget.
2. Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State
As a junior minister, he helps the finance minister in the preparation of the budget and conducts a consultation meeting with the stakeholders in her absence.
A four-time MP from Himachal Pradesh, Anurag Thakur was the president of the cricket governing body BCCI.
3. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor
In his capacity as the Chief Economic Advisor, K Subramanian, he is responsible for the preparation of the Economic Survey, which is a part of the budget documents.
The survey will be presented to both the houses of the Parliament on July 4 and is the most important document on the status of the country’s economy.
An alumnus of IIT & IIM, Subramanian was associated with the Indian School of Business before joining the government.
4. Subhash Chandra Garg, Finance Secretary
As the senior most bureaucrat in the Ministry, Garg is responsible for the preparation of the Budget as per the directions given by the Finance Minister.
An IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Garg is a qualified Company Secretary and also served as an Executive Director in the World Bank.
5. Girish Chandra Murmu, Expenditure Secretary
An IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, Girish Chandra Murmu is responsible for assessing the expenditure side of the Budget. His team takes into consideration the programme proposals given by different ministries and estimates the needed money for implementation.
Girish Chandra Murmu is considered as a close confidant of Narendra Modi. He was the principal secretary to Modi during his tenure as CM of Gujarat.
6. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary
As the Revenue Secretary, Ajay Bhushan Pandey is responsible for the assessment of the revenue sources of the Union Government from tax and non-tax resources.
Before joining the ministry, he worked as the CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India that issue Aadhaar and the Chairman of the GST Network.
