New Delhi, 26 January: The traditional Halwa Ceremony was celebrated on Thursday in the presence of union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With the completion of the Halwa Ceremony, the process of printing documents related to the union Budget for the financial year 2023-24 also started. However, this time the union Budget will be completely paperless. The Finance Minister will present the budget in Parliament on February 1.
The Finance Ministry said in a tweet that Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the ‘Halwa Ceremony’ organized at the Finance Ministry ahead of the union Budget 2023-24. The Finance Minister personally fed pudding to the officials involved in the preparation of the budget. union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary, Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance were present along with Sitharaman at the halwa ceremony held before the start of printing of budget-related documents.
The Halwa Ceremony is celebrated on the premises of the Ministry of Finance located at 10 North Block. According to the Finance Ministry, the union Budget for the financial year 2023-24 will be presented completely ‘paperless’. Traditionally, the budget presented on paper will be presented completely in digital format this time. All information on the Finance Minister’s speech and Budget 2023-24 will be available on the ‘Union Budget Mobile App’. It will work on all versions of Android and Apple. Halwa Ceremony
Tradition and significance of celebrating Halwa Ceremony
The Halwa ceremony is always held after the completion of the budget preparation. Halwa Ceremony is also considered as an indicator of the completion of the budget. In this ceremony, along with the Finance Minister, all the senior officials of the Finance Ministry are involved. After the completion of the Halwa Ceremony, 100 employees including top officials remain in the premises of the Finance Ministry and leave only after the presentation of the budget by the Finance Minister.
The tradition of the Halwa ceremony continues for years
In Indian culture, any auspicious work starts with eating sweets. For this reason, it is celebrated on the completion of budget work. This supports the hard work of the employees of the Ministry. That’s why pudding is made before presenting the budget process considering it auspicious. As a ritual in the process of making halwa, the Finance Minister also stirs the ladle in the pan and also distributes it among her colleagues.
