Before the commencement of business in the Lok Sabha today Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker, Lok Sabha, congratulated the members of the House for completion of entire budgetary process before beginning of new financial year and said that it is the beginning of a very important tradition in the Indian Parliamentary system. This has been achieved by active participation of all parliamentarians and support of all political parties, she added. Smt. Mahajan said, “On this historic achievement I would like to thank the Prime Minister and Finance Minister who visualized this change. I complement the Council of Ministers who worked very hard to achieve it. I would especially like to thank Shri Ananthkumar, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, who coordinated with everybody and implemented it meticulously.” She thanked all the MPs who played the role of vigilant and responsible peoples’ representatives by participating in late sittings of the house. Smt Mahajan also thanked all officials of Lok Sabha secretariat, Ministry of Finance and Parliamentary Affairs for their dedication and support. The Speaker observed that earlier the Union Budget used to get passed in April and a delay in budgetary allocations of four to five months had become the norm. The completion of the whole Budgetary process before 31st march means that the government departments will have budgetary allocations from the first day of the new financial year and they would have full year to spend on new programmes. Further, this will help all the State governments in their budgetary preparations.