Finance minister Arun Jaitley at the Halwa ceremony marking the beginning of the Budget printing process. The process of printing documents for the Budget 2016-17 began today with the ritual halwa ceremony, which was attended by the finance minister in North Block.


As part of the ritual, halwa is prepared in a big kadhai (vessel) and served to the staff of the ministry.


The significance of the sweet dish is that after it is served, a large number of officials and support staff, who are directly associated with budget making and printing process, are required to stay in the Ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the budget by the Minister.

They are not even allowed to contact their near and dear ones through phone or any other form of communication, like email. Only very senior officials in the Finance Ministry are permitted to go home. The budget, will be presented on February 29.