In an age where even court rulings are drafted using AI-powered chatbots, Chhattisgarh’s Finance Minister OP Choudhary showcased his personal dedication by presenting a 100-page handwritten Budget in Hindi, reflecting his hands-on approach and commitment to the budget preparation process.

Choudhary, a former IAS who quit service to join politics as he saw it as a bigger medium to serve the public, literally burnt midnight oil, hardly sleeping for a couple of hours in the day’s leading to the March 4 presentation of the Budget for the fiscal year starting April 1 in the Chhattisgarh Assembly.

The rare act that displayed a sense of ownership and dedication to the state’s financial planning and goals stood out, especially since most Budget documents are typically prepared by a team of officials or typed out on computers.

“I was writing my own (Budget) speech and I realised that a handwritten document expresses my feelings, my emotions, my vision, my commitment, and my attachment more. And so, I thought, I should write in my own handwriting,” he said.

A handwritten document reflects the attachment and emotions better, he said, displaying his handwritten 100-page document. Asked how long it took to write the entire document, he said the Budget had been in the works for five-six months but the actual writing on the components of the Budget started about a week or 10 days before the presentation.

“I literally did not sleep for four nights (prior to the Budget presentation). I hardly slept one to one-and-a-half hours in those four nights. And this is when I wrote the Budget,” he said. The act, he said, about his personal involvement and commitment to the state’s finances. This is perhaps the first time a finance minister has presented a handwritten annual Budget in the Assembly.