Marking the final stage of the Budget preparation process for Union Budget 2024-25, the Halwa ceremony was held in New Delhi on Tuesday, in the presence of Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
A customary Halwa ceremony is performed every year before the ‘lock-in’ process of officials involved in the Budget preparation begins. The Union Budget 2024-25 is to be presented on 23 July 2024.
At the Halwa Ceremony, the Union Finance Minister was also accompanied by Secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and other senior officers of the Government of India involved in the Budget preparation.
As part of the ceremony, the Union Finance Minister also took a tour of the Budget Press and reviewed the preparations besides extending her best wishes to the officials concerned.
However, in 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman shattered this long-standing tradition by replacing the traditional briefcase with a 'Bahi Khata,' a red-coloured Indian accounting ledger. In 2021 finance minister ditched the traditional ‘Bahi Khata’ to introduce a paperless budget for marking digital India.
All Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill and other documents will also be available on the “Union Budget Mobile App” for hassle-free access to Budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience. The App is bilingual (English & Hindi) and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms.
The Budget documents will be available on the Mobile App after the completion of the Budget Speech by the Finance Minister in Parliament on 23 July 2024.
