VP M Venkaiah Naidu calls meeting of all RS floor leaders ahead of Budget session

Ahead of the Union Budget presentation on February 1, Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has called a meeting of all Rajya Sabha leaders on January 31 at his residence ahead of the Budget session of Parliament. This announcement by M Venkaiah Naidu comes after the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, led the Halwa ceremony held at the North Block. owing to the prevalent COVID-19 pandemic, this year's Union Budget will be paperless. 

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Rajya Sabha's BAC to hold meeting on Jan 29

Apart from floor leaders meeting which will be chaired at Rajya Sabha Chairman's resident, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) will also be held on January 29. Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlahad said that the first part of the budget session will begin on January 29 and will continue till February 15, and the second part of the session will be from March 8 to April 8.

Birla also said that the Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to 2 pm and Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm with Zero Hour and Question Hour. All the members of Parliament have been requested to undergo an RT-PCR test against COVID-19 ahead of the budget session, he said.

Pre-Budget Halwa ceremony held

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What is the Halwa Ceremony?

Around 10 days or so before the documents connected to the Budget are printed, a halwa (pudding) is cooked in a large vessel and distributed to officials directly associated with the Budget. Following this ceremony, traditionally, officials are locked in the North Block, cut off from the outside world and are let out only before the actual presentation begins in the Parliament. A mobile phone jammer is installed inside the Finance Ministry to prevent the leakage of information. 

They are not even allowed to contact their near and dear ones through phone or any other form of communication, like e-mail. Only very senior officials in the finance ministry are permitted to go home. The ceremony of making Halwa is connected to the tradition of having something sweet before carrying out an auspicious task. 

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Paperless Union Budget 2021

Marking a first, the Centre has decided not to print documents related to the Union Budget for the fiscal beginning of April (FY 2021-22). All MPs will get soft copies of the budget and Economic Survey that contains an account of the state of the economy. The Budget documents will be available on the Mobile App - “Union Budget Mobile App” after the completion of the Budget Speech by the Finance Minister in Parliament on 1st February 2021. The App developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the guidance of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is available both in Hindi and English and will be available on both Android and iOS platforms. The two-part Union Budget session will start from January 29 till February 15 and the second session will take place between 8 March and 8 April.

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