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The Union Budget 2023-24 is going to be presented on 1 February. Its preparation has been completed. The traditional Halwa Ceremony was celebrated on Thursday (January 26) in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as the printing of budget related documents started. Union Minister of State for Finance Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance were present on the occasion.
What is Halwa Ceremony?
Before the finalization of the budget, pudding is made in the Finance Ministry. This ritual has been going on for a long time. Beginning of auspicious work with sweet is the main reason for Halwa ceremony.
Halwa ceremony was not celebrated for two years
This ritual was not performed in the years 2021 and 2022 due to the Kovid-19 pandemic. Instead, core employees were given sweets following the Covid protocol. These are the employees who are involved in the budget making process and are kept under house arrest in a way. These officers and employees come in contact with their family members and friends only after the Union Finance Minister presents the budget in the Parliament. Its purpose is to keep the budget confidential.
What is budget?
The way we need a budget to run our house, in the same way a budget is needed to run the country. The budget we make for our home is usually for a month. In this, we calculate how much we spent and earned this month. This is how the budget of the country is also done. In this, there is an account of the expenses and earnings of the year.
complete budget process
1. First of all, the Finance Ministry issues a circular asking all Ministries, States, Union Territories, Autonomous Institutions to make estimates for the new year. Apart from giving estimates for the new year, they also have to give details of the expenditure and income of the previous year.
2. After getting the estimate, the top officers of the Central Government investigate it. There is an in-depth discussion on this with the officials of the concerned Ministries and Department of Expenditure. The data is then sent to the Ministry of Finance with recommendations.
3. The Finance Ministry allocates revenue to the departments for their expenditure after considering all the recommendations. The Department of Revenue and Economic Affairs is in touch with representatives of farmers and small traders and foreign institutional investors to understand the situation in depth.
4. In the pre-budget meeting, the Finance Minister meets the concerned parties to know their proposals and demands. These include representatives of the states, bankers, agriculturalists, economists and representatives of employee unions. After the pre-budget meeting is over, the finance minister takes a final call on all the demands. The Finance Minister also talks to the Prime Minister before the budget is finalised.
5. A few days before the presentation of the budget, there is a halwa ceremony. The pudding prepared in a big pan is distributed among the staff of the Ministry of Finance. With this, the printing process of the budget begins. The officers and support staff involved in the process remain in the ministry till the budget is presented. The budget for this financial year was not printed and soft copies were given to the Members of Parliament.
6. The Finance Minister presents the General Budget in the Lok Sabha. Till 2016, it used to appear on the last day of February. From 2017, it started appearing on 1 February every year. For the first time this year, all the budget documents were made available on Union Budget Mobile.