Budget Secrecy, Halwa Ceremony: 100 finance ministry officials will be confined to North Block basement till Feb 28

THE printing process of the Budget document to be presented by union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 28 began in the basement of North Block on Friday after the finance ministry bigwigs participated in a traditional event called “halwa ceremony”. As finance minister and North Block officials enjoyed the halwa (see photo), the final chapter on budget secretary, something unheard of in…