'Halwa' Ceremony Kicks Off Budget Document Printing

The government on Thursday kicked off the printing of the document for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's first full-year Budget with the traditional 'Halwa' ceremony in which the dessert was cooked and served to officials associated with printing the secret document in the North Block which houses the Finance Ministry office.

The sweet dish ceremony marks the beginning of a quarantine period where no Finance Ministry official directly involved with the Budget-making and printing process is allowed to go home or even have any mode of communication with the world outside (family included) till the Budget is presented on February 28. Only very senior officials in the ministry are allowed to go home.

As is customary, the ceremony was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Minister of State, Finance Jayant Sinha too was present at the ritual where the sweet dish was cooked in a large vessel. The 'Halwa' is served to the entire staff in the ministry.

Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das, and Joint Secretary (Budget) Rajat Bhargava were also present at the function.