Halwa ceremony marking lock-in of Budget documents held at North Block

New Delhi [India], July 16 (ANI): The Halwa ceremony, marking the final stage of the budget preparation process for full Budget of 2024-25, was held in North Block on Tuesday in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary, and secretaries. Officers and staff involved in the budget preparation and compilation process were also present on the occasion.

A customary Halwa ceremony is performed every year before the “lock-in” process of the budget preparation begins. The Halwa Ceremony is a preparation of the Indian sweet dish in a large ‘kadhai’ at the North Block.

The Finance Minister ceremoniously stirs the ‘kadhai’ and generally serves the halwa to everyone involved in the Budget-making process. This tradition is also a way to acknowledge the hard work of all the finance ministry officials. The halwa ceremony heralds the process of printing all the budget documents ahead of the presentation in Parliament.

The halwa ceremony is a significant event as it also marks the beginning of lockdown at the finance ministry. This means no official is allowed to leave the ministry compound. Everyone part of the Budget team is allowed to leave only after the financial document is presented in Parliament. The printing of the Union Budget inside the basement located at the North Block has become a permanent feature since 1980.

The budget session of parliament will begin on July 22 and, according to schedule, will end on August 12.

With this upcoming Budget Presentation, Sitharaman will surpass the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964 as finance minister. Sitharaman’s upcoming Budget speech would be her sixth.

Like the previous few full Union Budgets, the Budget 2024 will also be delivered in paperless form. An Interim Union Budget 2024 was presented on February 1, as the country was due for general elections.

The interim budget, tabled on February 1, took care of the financial needs of the intervening period until a government was formed after the Lok Sabha polls, after which a full budget was supposed to be presented by the new government in July.

All the Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill, as prescribed by the Constitution, will be available on the “Union Budget Mobile App” for hassle-free access of budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and people.

The app is bilingual (English and Hindi) and is available on both Android and iOS platforms. The App can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in).