After a gap of 15 years, the Budget will be presented on a Saturday — on February 28.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday recommended to the President the schedule of the first session of Parliament in 2015.
Though the General Budget, or the ‘Annual Financial Statement’, is usually presented on the last day of February as the financial year begins from April 1 and ends on March 31, it usually happens on a weekday.
The Centre follows the five-day week system — Monday to Friday.
However, it was in 1999 that the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha last presented a Budget on a Saturday.
It was in the same year that the long-standing tradition of presenting the Budget at 5 pm was done away with. It has since been presented at 11 am.
This year, the Budget session will begin on February 23 with the traditional Presidential Address to both the houses of Parliament.
The Railway Budget will be presented on February 26 followed by the tabling of the Economic Survey on February 27.
The first leg of the session will end on March 20.
After a one month recess, both houses of Parliament will reassemble on April 20 and the session will continue till May 8.
The recess period is used by Standing Committees of Parliament to consider expenditure provisions for various Central Ministries/Departments and also the Finance Bill.
Though, the Centre is not bound to accept the committees’ suggestionsthere is a convention to accept some of them and amend the provisions of the Budget accordingly.