New Delhi: Kicking off the printing of the official budget documents, finance ministry officials on Monday organised the customary 'halwa ceremony'. The ceremony marks the commencement of the process of printing documents for the upcoming interim budget, due to be presented by the government on February 1.
This is the first time since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took over that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley could not be present for the event. The senior BJP leader has been diagnosed with cancer and is in the US for treatment. He is expected to return by the end of this week.
The event marks significance as once the sweet dish is served, a large number of officials and support staff, who are directly associated with the budget making and printing process, are required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the Budget in the Lok Sabha.
The government shared images of senior government officials greeting each other by distributing the sweet dish.
Halwa Ceremony - MoS @finminindia @bjpshivpshukla and @ponnaarrbjp share halwa with Ministry officials to mark the ceremonial beginning of printing of #Budget2019 documents in the Finance Ministry, North Block pic.twitter.com/XVRw8PMUoI— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 21, 2019
The lock-in which follows the 'halwa ceremony' is observed to maintain the secrecy of the Budget preparation process. Only very senior officials in the Finance Ministry are permitted to go home.
MOS Finance Shivpratap Shukla was photographed stirring a huge kadhai with the simmering sweet. It is observed to maintain the secrecy of the budget preparation process. As part of the ritual, 'halwa' is prepared in a big wok and served to the entire staff in the ministry.
Apart from Jaitley, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, MoS Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla and others attended the ceremony last year.
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