Union Budget 2021: What is Economic Survey? How to watch Union Budget 2021 telecast?

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2021 on February 1. This will be the third annual budget tabled by her under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This year, there are expectations that in this budget, the Centre would boost spending to reboot the country's economy which has been hit hard due to the pandemic. Last year, the Finance Minister had promised a 'never before' like Union Budget to the people of India. 

When will the Economic Survey be presented?

According to the Finance Ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the Economic Survey 2020-21 in the Parliament on Friday. Generally, the Economic Survey is presented a day before the Budget, but this year as the Budget follows the weekend, the Economic Survey will be presented earlier than usual. Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) KV Subramanian will address a press conference at 2.30 pm after the presentation of the Economic Survey.

What is the Economic Survey?

The Economic Survey is one of the most important annual document of the Finance Ministry as it provides the resource allocations mentioned in the Budget. This document is prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor to the central government. It is presented ahead of Budget, provides a review of the economy of the current financial year and forecasts a path for the coming year.

This survey analyses the trends in money supply, infrastructure, agriculture and industrial production, employment, prices, exports, imports, foreign exchange reserved as well as other relevant factors that have an impact on the economy and the budget. This year, the focus is going to be on the losses suffered by the Indian economy due to Coronavirus. 

How to watch the Union budget 2021?

The budget would be telecast live on Republic TV. It would also be telecast on Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV & Rajya Sabha TV etc. The budget can also be viewed through social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Paperless Union Budget 2021

Marking a first, the Centre has decided not to print documents related to the Union Budget for the fiscal beginning of April (FY 2021-22). All MPs will get soft copies of the budget and Economic Survey that contains an account of the state of the economy. The Budget documents will be available on the Mobile App - “Union Budget Mobile App” after the completion of the Budget Speech by the Finance Minister in Parliament on 1st February 2021. the App developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the guidance of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is available both in Hindi and English and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. The two-part Union Budget session will start from January 29 till February 15 and the second session will take place between 8 March and 8 April.