Traditional Budget in the Technological Era: Minister Presents Handwritten Budget

Chhattisgarh Finance Minister O.P. Chowdhary has made headlines with his unique approach to presenting the state budget. In an age dominated by digital tools like ChatGPT, he chose to draft the entire budget by hand. He presented the 2025-26 state budget, amounting to approximately ₹1.65 lakh crore, to the legislative assembly in this distinctive manner.

While budget documents are typically prepared digitally by officials, Chowdhary believed that handwriting his budget would better convey his thoughts, vision, and commitment to the state. As a result, he personally wrote the entire 100-page budget in Hindi.

The minister revealed that in the days leading up to the budget's completion, he slept for only an hour to an hour and a half each night over four days. He emphasized that his decision to resign from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and enter politics stemmed from his deep passion for public service. According to Chowdhary, his handwritten budget reflects transparency in governance.

He stated that the overall budget preparation took nearly 5-6 months, but the final drafting of key aspects was completed in the last 10 days. Chowdhary, who was an IAS officer from the 2005 batch, resigned as the Raipur Collector in 2018 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Although he faced defeat in the 2018 elections, he secured victory in 2023, becoming an MLA and later assuming a ministerial role.