Union Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participates in customary 'halwa' ceremony

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday participated in a traditional halwa ceremony marking the final stage for preparation of Union Budget 202425 to be unveiled on July 23 in Lok SabhaThe ceremony is a ritual in which traditional dessert halwa is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in the preparation of the budgetIt is organised in the basement of North Block which houses the ministry in the national capital and is attended by the finance minister and other highranking officialsThe final stage of the Budget preparation process for Union Budget 202425 commenced with the customary Halwa ceremony in the presence of Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt nsitharaman in New Delhi today the finance ministry said in a post on XAs part of the ceremony the finance minister also took a round of the Budget Press and reviewed the preparations besides extending her best wishes to the officials concernedLike the previous three full Union Budgets and one Interim the full Union Budget 202425 will also be delivered in paperless formAll the Union Budget documents including the Annual Financial Statement commonly known as Budget Demand for Grants DG Finance Bill etc as prescribed by the Constitution will be available on the Union Budget Mobile App for hasslefree access to BudgetBesides Sitharaman Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and other senior officials including Finance Secretary T V Somanathan Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth and Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi were present at the ceremonyHalwa ceremonyIt is a kind of a sendoff for finance ministry officials and staff involved in the preparation of the Union governments annual financial statement They enter what is called a lockin period during which they stay in the basement of North Block cut off from the world outside with a view to maintaining the secrecy around the final budget documentThey will emerge only after the finance minister completes her Budget speech in the Lok Sabha It is considered a gesture of appreciation for those who have worked on the Budget The basement of North Block houses a printing press that was traditionally used to print budget documents for 40 years from 1980 to 2020Thereafter the budget went digital with bare minimum documents printed and the bulk distribution happening via mobile app or on the website Going digital also meant that the lockin period has become shorter to just five days from the previous one which lasted up to two weeksPrinting PressAll Budgetrelated documents are printed at North Block itself using a dedicated government press Earlier the documents were printed at Rashtrapati Bhavan but this was shifted to a press on Minto Road in the national capital in 1950 after documents were leaked and in 1980 to North Block The printing of several hundred copies of the voluminous budget documents was such an elaborate exercise that printing staff had to be quarantined inside the printing press in the basement of North Block for up to two weeksTraditionWhile the Narendra Modi government has done away with several traditional aspects of the Budget since coming to power in 2014 such as merging the Rail Budget with the main Budget bringing forward the date of presentation to February 1 instead of the last date of that month and moving to a digital format the halwa ceremony as a tradition has survivedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever