New Delhi: The traditional halwa ceremony which marks the process of printing of budget documents will be held on January 20, that is 10 days ahead of the presentation of the Union budget in the parliament.


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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be in attendance along with other officials and support staff of the finance ministry who will be involved in the budget preparation. 


The ceremony will take place at North Block where the Ministry of Finance and the Home Ministry is situated. The making of halwa is the official kick-start of the event.


Know about the significance halwa ceremony:


In this decades-old tradition, halwa is prepared in a large vessel and served to the finance ministry staff. After the ceremony, the employees who are a part of the budget-making process, move to the basement of North Block for around 10 days to prevent any leaks before the presentation. 


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The budget-making group will be released from the basement only after the Finance Minister's presentation of the Budget in the Lok Sabha is over. The officials involved in the process can only contact their families through designated mobile phones.


The ceremony also functions as a method of recognition to laud the efforts of every staff member who has been a part of the budget-making process.


The Union Budget 2020 will be the seventh consecutive Budget of the present NDA government and it is scheduled to be unveiled in Parliament on February 1.


As per predictions, the government is likely to announce a distressed asset fund of Rs 5,000 crore for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) facing liquidity crunch in the upcoming Budget 2020-21 and it may also bring some relief to the middle-class taxpayers by announcing reductions in the tax rates. 


(With agency inputs)