On the occasion of Halwa ceremony conducted on Saturday at the Union Finance Ministry Headquarters in New Delhi ahead of the Budget presentation for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Union Budget Mobile App.
The app was developed by the National Informatics Centre "for hassle-free access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience."
For the first time since November 1947 when the first budget of independent India was released, the budget shall be delivered paperless this year due to the pandemic. The app shall ensure complete access to all the 14 documents in the budget, including the Annual Financial Statement, Demand for Grants, Finance Bill, etc.
The app is available for both Android and iOS and could be downloaded from either Google Play Store or Apple Play Store. Alternatively, it can also be downloaded from the Union Budget web portal. All documents shall be made available on the app following the Finance Minister's speech in the Parliament on February 1st.
"The App has a user-friendly interface with embedded features of downloading, printing, search, zoom in and out, bidirectional scrolling, table of contents and external links, etc. It is bilingual (English & Hindi) and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms," Ministry of Finance tweeted.
The halwa ceremony usually commemorates the compilation and printing of the budget but this year, it witnessed the app launch as part of the paperless budget initiative. Minister of State Anurag Thakur and other officials of the Ministry of Finance also attended the ceremony.