• Source:JND
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As the Union Budget for the financial year 2024 is just a few days ago, all eyes are on the speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of India. Speculations are rife about the sectors that will benefit from this year's budget. As the countdown has begun, here’s a list of the longest budget speeches delivered ever in India.

Nirmala Sitharaman

The longest speech to be presented was by the present finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, who has presented the budget five times so far. In 2020, the budget presented by her is the longest budget speech ever delivered in the history of the country. According to a report by the Deccan Herald, the second speech by her in 2020 started at 11 a.m. and continued till 1:40 p.m., which is a total of 2 hours and 42 minutes. Sh broke her 2019 record of having delivered the longest budget speech in India. In that year, Sitharaman delivered a speech that went on for 2 hours and 7 minutes, making it the second-longest speech ever.

Jaswant Singh

Before Sitharaman, the longest budget speech was delivered by former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, who delivered one of the biggest speech in 2003. His speech lasted for over 2 hours, 13 minutes, making it the third budget speech ever.

Arun Jaitley

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke for 2 hours and 20 minutes during the 2014 budget.

As the general assembly polls is just a few months away, all eyes will be on the Union Budget of this year. On Wednesday, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recommended the establishment of a comprehensive Ministry of Investment on the investment front for the interim budget. Meanwhile, the education sector holds high hopes for a higher budget allocation and a significant push for digital infrastructure, pedagogy transformation, and teacher development.

Education experts also opine that a strategic fiscal approach is the need of the hour to foster a conducive learning environment that aligns with the objectives of the NEP 2020 and Industry 4.0.

The budget will be tabled by the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, on February 1, 2024.