Budget 2023: Halwa Ceremony To Be Held On January 26 Before 'Lock-In' Process Of Budget Officials

The customary Halwa ceremony will be performed on Thursday before the 'lock-in' process of the officials who are involved in the preparation of this year's Budget.

The customary Halwa ceremony will be performed on Thursday before the 'lock-in' process of the officials who are involved in the preparation of this year's Budget. The ceremony, which marks the process of printing documents for the Union Budget, will take place in the presence of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Union Finance Ministry headquarters at North Block in New Delhi.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, Secretaries of the Finance Ministry, and other officials of the ministry will also be present at the ceremony. The ceremony will resume the decades-old tradition after a year's gap owing to the rise in COVID-19 cases.

News agency ANI tweeted, "A customary Halwa ceremony will be performed before the “lock-in” process of officials involved in Budget preparation in the presence of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tomorrow."

"The ceremony marks the final stage of preparing the Union Budget. The Finance Minister begins the ceremony by stirring the halwa in the kadhai and then serves it to their colleagues at the Ministry's headquarters in Delhi," ANI tweeted.

What Is Halwa Ceremony?

The custom marks the last leg of the budget process and is usually held at the headquarters of the finance ministry in North Block, New Delhi, which houses a special printing press in the basement. The tradition involves preparing the sweet dish in a big 'kadhai' (frying pot) and serving it to finance ministry officials directly associated with the budget-making process, to acknowledge their efforts.

Significance Of Halwa Ceremony 

The 'halwa ceremony' holds significance as once the sweet dish is served, a large number of officials and support staff involved in the budget-making and printing process are required to stay in the North Block of the finance ministry until the final presentation of the budget in Parliament.

The officials remain cut off from their families and the outside world for almost 10 days. They are not supposed to even contact their close ones through any form of communication.

The 'lock-in' is observed to ensure the secrecy of budget details. Only very senior officials in the finance ministry are permitted to go home during this period.

(With agency inputs)