Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table Union Budget 2020 in the Lok Sabha today and it is expected that she will pull out all measures to give a boost to the slowing economy and falling consumer demand as well as investment and meet the hopes of 130 crore citizens who are expecting something good from her. 

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However, there has been an unwritten custom associated with the event of using poems and couplets to make the dry budget session live. The tradition started by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 1990s when he was serving the country as its finance minister, which has continued till date. And, I hope the finance minister Sitharaman will not disappoint us by not reciting poems or reading couplets while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21, today. 

 

Below are some quotes/couplets from previous Budget speeches:

Manmohan Singh (1991-92): This is the year when the unwritten custom was started by Singh. His first couplet read, "Yunnan-o-Misr-o-Rom sab mit gaye jahaan say. Ab tak magar hai baaki, naam-o-nishan hamara". It translates to be, "old civilisations of Greece, Egypt and Rome have vanished from the earth. There is some reason that our civilisation is still alive".

 

Manmohan Singh (1992-93): He used "Kuchh aise bhee manzar hain taareekh ki nazron mein, Lamhon ne khataa ki thi, sadiyon ne sazaa paayee." This translates to be, "there are dates in history that say mistakes made at some point of time create trouble for centuries".

 

Yashwant Sinha (2001-02): "Taqaazaa hai waqt kaa ke toofaan se joojho, kahaan tak chaloge kinaare kinaare". This means, "it is a time to fight the storms, how long you will keep walking at the corners".

 

Yashwant Sinha (2004-05): "Garib ke pet mein dana, Grihini ki tukia mein anna". This means, "Food in the belly of poor and money in the purse of the housewife.

 

Pranab Mukherjee (2009-10): He used a verse from Arthashastra, which reads, "In the interest of the prosperity of the country, a king shall be diligent in foreseeing the possibility of calamities, try to avert them before they arise, overcome those which happen, remove all obstructions to economic activity and prevent loss of revenue to the state". 

 

Pranab Mukherjee (2012-13): This was the last Budget Speech by the former President when he was serving India as its Finance Minister. He quoted Hamlet, "the prince of Denmark while talking about the tough policy decisions he had to take for the good of the economy in the long run. “I must be cruel only to be kind.” 

 

P Chidambaram (2013-14): "Kalangathu kanda vinaikkan thulangkathu thookkang kadinthu seyal", it is a couplet from Thirukural, a classic Tamil text. It means, "What clearly eye discerns as right, with a steadfast will and mind unslumbering, that should man fulfil".

 

Arun Jaitley (2015-16): "Kuchh to gul khilaye hain, kuchh abhi khilaane hain, par baagh mein ab bhi kaante kuchh puraane hain". It means, "We have made few flowers to bloom and others will bloom soon, but at present, the garden is full of several old thrones".

 

Arun Jaitley (2016-17): “Kashti chalaane walon ne jab haar kar di patwar hamein, lehar lehar toofan mile aur mauj mauj manjdhaar hamein. Phir bhi dikhaya hei hamane aur phir yeh dikha denge sabko, in halato mein aata hai daria karna paar hame". It means, "When the exhausted sailors handed the boat's oar in our hands, we were surrounded by storms and rapids. But we successfully showed around and will keep on showing as we know how to cross the river in such conditions".

 

Arun Jaitley (2017-18): "Hum Agey Agey Chalte Hai, Ayie Aap”. It means, "We are ahead of you, please follow us". 

 

Arun Jaitley (2018-19): He used a verse from ‘Memoirs of European Travel’ by Swami Vivekananda and it says, “You merge yourselves in the void and disappear, and let new India arise in your place. Let her arise – out of the peasants’ cottage, grasping the plough; out of the huts of the fisherman. Let her spring from the grocer’s shop, from beside the oven of the fritter-seller. Let her emanate from the factory, from marts, and from markets. Let her emerge from groves and forests, from hills and mountains’’. The verse was used with a hope to create a 'New India'. 

 

Piyush Goyal (Interim Budget 2019-20): He quoted a couplet translated from Marathi poem, "Ek paanv rakhta hoon, Hazarein Rahein Phoot Padeti Hai". It means, "Every step we take opens up a thousand new paths forward".

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Nirmala Sitharaman (2019-20): She recited poetry and couplets in her budget speeches by quoting lines by Chankaya and late Urdu poet Manzoor Hashmi. The couplet from Hashmi, "Yaqin ho to koi rasta nikalta hai, hava ki ot bhi le kar chirag jalta hai", which translates to be - if there is belief then a road ahead will open up, sheltered from the winds the lamp will burn brightly." She quoted a sutra from Chanakya, "Kaarya purusha kare na lakshyam sampa dayate", which translates to be - If we have determined efforts, the task will surely be completed.