Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday took part in the traditional ‘halwa’ ceremony, marking the final stage of preparation of the Interim Budget 2024
The halwa ceremony is an annual ritual in which the dessert is prepared and served to officials and staff members of the finance ministry who are involved in the preparation of the Budget. It is held every year in the basement of Delhi’s North Block, which houses the ministry. After the ceremony, the ‘lock-in’ process of Budget preparation begins, wherein the ministry officials and staff stay in the basement of North Block, cut off from the world outside in order to maintain the secrecy around the final budget document.
#WATCH | Delhi | The Halwa ceremony, marking the final stage of the Budget preparation process for Interim Union Budget 2024, was held in North Block, today, in the presence of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of State for Finance… pic.twitter.com/wjoyI5QqQ3
— ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2024
The halwa ceremony is one of the traditions that has survived, even as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has made several other major changes, like 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 curtailing the printing of Budget copies.
The Union Budget 2024 will be presented in the Lok Sabha on February 1. Like the previous three full Union Budgets, Interim Union Budget 2024 will also be delivered in paperless form. These will include the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc. as prescribed by the Constitution.
All the Union Budget documents will be available on the “Union Budget Mobile App” in English and Hindi and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. It can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal http://www.indiabudget.gov.in.