From investors to aam aadmi, all are eagerly waiting for February 1 as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to table Union Budget 2020-21.The process of printing documents for the Union Budget 2020 had started with a ‘halwa ceremony’ on January 20.
While all the finance ministry officials are busy with preparing the budget documents, Kuldeep Kumar Sharma, the man responsible for printing out the Budget documents, lost his father on Republic Day.
Despite the colossal loss, Sharma chose not leave the quarantined press area. Finacnce Minsitry praised Sharma’s “extaraordinary sincerity towards his work”. In a tweet, Finance Ministry said that “Informing with regret that Shri Kuldeep Kumar Sharma, Deputy Manager (Press), lost his father on 26 Jan 2020. Being on Budget duty, he was on job in the lock-in. In spite of his immense loss, Sharma decided not to leave the press area even for a minute.”
Finance Ministry also added that Sharma has had 31 years of experience and he is a the key hand to complete budget document printing task within a very tight schedule. Sharma’s dedication and “exemplary commitment” to his work has also been applauded by the Finance Ministry. Twitteratis also wrote condolence messages for Kuldeep Sharma after Finance Ministry tweeted about father’s death.
Every year, the process of printing union budget starts with traditional ‘halwa ceremony’. As part of the ritual, ‘halwa’ is prepared in a big ‘kadhai’ (vessel) and served to the entire staff in the ministry. The significance of the sweet dish is that after it is served, a large number of officials and support staff, who are directly associated with the Budget making and printing process, are required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the Budget by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha. They are not even allowed to contact their near and dear ones through phone or any other form of communication, like e-mail.
This is done to ensure that there are no leaks of information about the Union Budget before its presentation.
[“source=livemint”]