Printing of Budget starts with 'Halwa ceremony'

NEW DELHI: Printing of 2017-18 budget documents started on Thursday with the annual 'Halwa Ceremony'. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and senior ministry officials attended the ritual that marks the beginning of lockdown for over 100 officials in the finance ministry.

“After the Halwa ceremony, more than 100 officials of Finance Ministry will stay in Budget printing press till FM's Budget Speech is over," the ministry said in a series of tweets.

As a part of the ritual, which has continued for long, 'halwa' is prepared in a big 'kadhai' and served to the entire staff in the ministry.


Finance secretary Ashok Lavasa, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officers and staffers of the ministry involved with budget preparation were also present at the ceremony.

The significance of the sweet dish is that after it is served, a large number of officials and support staff, who are directly associated with the making and printing of the budget, are required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the Budget by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha.

They are not even allowed to contact their near and dear ones through phone or any other form of communication, like e-mail or phone. Only very senior officials in the Finance Ministry are permitted to go home.

The NDA government’s third full-fledged Budget will be unveiled in Parliament on February 1as against the usual date of the last working day of the next month. The lock-in which follows the 'halwa ceremony' is observed to maintain the secrecy of the Budget preparation process.

Budget Press in North Block houses all these officials in the period leading up to the presentation of Union Budget in Parliament by the Finance Minister.