Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attends “Halwa Ceremony” printing Budget document

On Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attends the ritual “Halwa Ceremony”, at the North Block Office in Delhi, beforethe process of printing the documents of Budget 2015-16. Its been a tradition which had continued for long time. As a parts of the ritual, “Halwa” is prepared in the big vessel (Kadhai) and served to the entered staff of the ministry. The significance of the “HalwaCeremony” is that, After its served, a large number of officers and supports staff, who were directly associates with the Budget making and printing Process, have been required to stay in the ministry and remain cut-off from their families till the presentation of the Budget in the Lok-Sabha. They were not even allowed to contact their near and dear ones through phone or any other form of communication, like e-mail. Only very senior officers in the Finance Ministry were permitted to go home. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Revenue Secretary ShaktikantaDas, Joint Secretary Rajat Bhargava and other officers and staff of the ministry involved with Budget preparation were also present at the “Halwa Ceremony”.