New Delhi, January 23: The Halwa ceremony, marking the final stage of the Budget making process for Union Budget 2021-22, was held in Delhi’s North Block on Saturday in the presence of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
A customary Halwa ceremony is performed every year before the ‘lock-in’ process of Budget preparation begins.
At the Halwa Ceremony, the Union Finance Minister was accompanied by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur; Dr AB Pandey, Finance Secretary & Secretary (Revenue); TV Somanathan, Secretary, Expenditure; Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Economic Affairs; Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, DIPAM; Debashish Panda, Secretary, Financial Services; Dr KV Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor; Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary (Budget) and other officials of the Ministry.
PC Mody, Chairman, CBDT, M Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC, besides others officers and staff of the Ministry of Finance, involved in the Budget preparation and compilation process, were also present on the occasion.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also reviewed the status of the compilation of the Union Budget 2021-22 and extended her best wishes to the officials concerned.
On the occasion, Sitharaman also launched the ‘Union Budget Mobile App’ for hassle-free access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience.
The mobile app facilitates complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), Finance Bill etc as prescribed by the Constitution.
