Union Budget 2022: No Halwa ceremony this year amid COVID-19 pandemic
This year, to mark the final stage of the Union Budget making process, sweets were provided to the core staff due to undergo “lock-in” at their workplaces, instead of a customary Halwa ceremony held every year in view of the prevailing pandemic situation and the need to observe health safety protocols, the ministry said.
“To maintain the secrecy of Budget, there is a “lock-in” of the officials involved in making the Budget. Budget Press, situated inside North Block, houses all officials in the period leading up to the presentation of the Union Budget. These officers and staff will come in contact with their near and dear ones only after the Budget is presented by the Union Finance Minister in the Parliament,” it further noted.
The Finance Minister usually kicks off the celebrations with the ‘halwa’ ceremony, by stirring the dessert in a traditional kadhai (cauldron) and then serves it to her colleagues. The ministers of state (MoS Finance) and other top officials of the ministry are present during the ceremony. This ritual also sets the stage for a significant event soon after. The North Block becomes Fort Knox for 10-odd days up to the presentation of the Budget, where all officials and staff involved in the Budget-making process isolate themselves to maintain rigid secrecy about the document. The tradition has been carried out for decades in the basement of the North Block that also houses the special printing press, which printed the Budget documents from 1980 until 2020.
Union Budget 2022: 14 Budget documents to be available on a mobile app this year
Union Budget 2022 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in “paperless form”, the government said on January 27, adding that the entire budget document will be released on a mobile application named ‘Union Busget Mobile App’, for lawmakers and the general public after it is presented in the Parliament on February 1. The mobile app allows complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Budget Speech, Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc as prescribed by the Constitution, the ministry stated. The application is bilingual (English & Hindi) and is available on both Android and iOS platforms, it further added.
Union Budget 2022: The Union Budget is the annual report of India as a country. It contains the government of India’s revenue and expenditure for the end of a particular fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31. The Union Budget is the most extensive account of the government’s finances, in which revenues from all sources and expenses of all activities undertaken are aggregated. It comprises the revenue budget and the capital budget. It also contains estimates for the next fiscal year. Keeping with recent tradition, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce Union Budget 2022 on February 1 this year. This will be preceded by a virtual meeting of the Rajya Sabha floor leaders, ahead of the budget session of the Parliament, will be held on January 31. The meeting will be chaired by Chairman of the House and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. This year will be Sitharaman’s fourth Budget after 2019, 2020 and 2021. She had read out the Budget from a tablet last year in parliament.
Good morning and welcome to Moneycontrol’s LIVE coverage in the run-up to the Union Budget 2022. Stay tuned for the latest news and developments leading up to the announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.
