• Source:JND
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Budget 2024: The Halwa ceremony was organised on Wednesday in the presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the North Block in Delhi. It marks the final stage of the budget preparation process for the Interim Union Budget 2024. Every year, a customary Halwa ceremony is organised before the “lock-in” process of budget preparation begins.

Like the previous three full Union Budgets, the Interim Union Budget 2024 will also be delivered in paperless form. It is to be presented on February 1, the Finance Ministry said, as quoted by the news agency IANS.

All the Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants, and Finance Bill, among others, as prescribed by the Constitution, will be available on the "Union Budget Mobile App" for easy access of Budget documents by MPs and the general public, according to a Finance Ministry statement. The documents will be published both in English and Hindi and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. The app can also be downloaded from the Union Budget Web Portal (www.indiabudget.gov.in). The budget documents will be available on the mobile app after the completion of the budget speech by the Union Finance Minister in Parliament on February 1.

At the halwa ceremony, the Finance Minister was also accompanied by senior officials, including Finance Secretary & Secretary, Expenditure, T.V. Somanathan, Secretary, Economic Affairs, Ajay Seth, Secretary, DIPAM Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Revenue, Sanjay Malhotra, Chairman, Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT), Nitin Gupta, and Chairman, Central Board for Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.

As part of the ceremony, the Union Finance Minister also took a round of the Budget Press and reviewed the preparations, besides extending her best wishes to the officials concerned.

(With input from agencies)