Did you know about the Halwa ceremony celebrated every year by the Ministry of Finance?

Union Budget 2020-21 is around the corner and to embark on the process of preparing the budget, the Ministry of Finance organised the Halwa ceremony, which has been a yearly ritual.

This ceremony was conducted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with her team and the entire staff involved in the Budget preparation. The tradition of preparing this Halwa hails from our rich culinary heritage, where every good task is embarked on after eating a sweet delight. Here’s everything you need to know about the customary ‘Halwa Ceremony Of the Finance Ministry’.

Prepared in a big Kadhai, it is a ritual followed by the Ministry of Finance and then the halwa is served to the entire staff in the ministry. The ceremony took place in the Ministry of Finance, North Block yesterday.

The significance of serving this sweet dish to the officials is to mark the secrecy of the whole project. The officials and the support staff associated with the whole budget-making process are not allowed to go home or have any form of contact with their friends and families once the ceremony takes place. The officials on the highest ranks, however, are free to go home.

“To maintain the secrecy of Budget, there is a ‘lock-in’ of the officials involved in making the Budget 2020-21. Budget Press, situated inside North Block, houses all officials in the period leading up to the presentation of the Union Budget,” Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of India explained in a statement to media.