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Kolkata: What can a slightly yellow, dense and sweetmeat that is cooked with sooji, sugar, ghee, nuts, cardamom and saffron have to do with the most important annual financial statement of the government? Well, on the one hand nothing. But one another plane, a lot, is this sweetmeat happens to be halwa. Did you know that our very familiar, home-cooked halwa has come to develop an unshakeable bond with the Union Budget? Significantly, the sweet which often has the appearance of a fudgy, glossy paste has its origin in Persian/Arabic and means sweet. Every year the halwa ceremony serves halwa to the employees of her ministry and it marks the beginning of the final stages of the Budget preparation exercise.
The halwa ceremony is conducted by the minister is charge of finance. The dessert is prepared in a large vessel and the finance minister serves it to all the employees and officers who are part of the Budget preparation. It takes place at the basement of the North Block where the Budget papers are printed in utmost secrecy, so much so that the employees are secluded in that part of the building and cannot leave until the FM presents the Budget in Parliament. The end of the ceremony signals the beginning of the lock-in period for the employees. They do not have access to their phones of other means of communication with the outside world till the Budget is tabled in the Parliament.
It also signals the end of the elaborate consultations and discussions for the Budget and it also marks the final shape of the budget. Usually, it marks a time when the Budget is finalised and there is no change until something emergency has cropped up and it is absolutely necessary to incorporate it. This marks the time when the speculation about the provisions in the Budget reaches its feverish peak.
In Indian tradition, sweets are often offered to mark the beginning of any auspicious occasion so that it becomes successful. The halwa ceremony also mirrors this belief. The FM herself/himself serving the dessert also indicates that all the employees involved in the final stages of preparing the Budget documents are equal and have a big, collective responsibility. Even as the Budget has transitioned from the suitcase to the bohi-khata and now to a tablet, the halwa ceremony has survived all the changes both on the technology front as well as economic model front (from a controlled to a market economy).
Usually it is held about 8-10 days before the Budget is presented. It began since 1950 when the Budget was leaked. That was the only instance of the Budget being leaked so far. That was also the first year when India turned into a Republic. Therefore, from camaraderie to flagging off an auspicious ceremoney which must go off well -- the halwa cefremoney signifies a lot of things.
