Budget Halwa Ceremony 2024: Ahead of the presentation of Union Budget 2024 on July 23, the Finance Ministry is all set to hold the critically-important ‘halwa ceremony’ at North Block. The tradition is part of the Budget preparation and holds a great significance. There is a lot of anticipation among key stakeholders around major policy changes in the first full budget of Modi 3.0.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and several prominent economists held a high-level meeting to finalise the nitty-gritties of the Union Budget. As buzz grows around tax rebates and higher sectoral allocations, here’s all you need to know about ‘halwa ceremony’:
What’s the halwa ceremony?
As the name suggests, this event involves preparation of the Indian sweet dish in a large ‘kadhai’ at the North Block. The finance minister stirs the ‘kadhai’ and the halwa is served to everyone. 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 of all the budget documents ahead of the presentation in Parliament.
Why halwa ceremony is so important?
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.
These stringent measures date back to a leak that occurred in 1950. A portion of the Union Budget was leaked while it was being printed at Rashtrapati Bhawan. As a result of the leak, the then Finance Minister, John Matthai, resigned. Since 1980, the North Block basement has been designated as the permanent location for budget printing.