All you need to know about printing of Budget papers

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To prevent the secrecy and leakage of the budget, blue sheet is used.

A blue sheet is essentially a blue piece of paper that contains prominent confidential numbers around which hundreds of pages of the budget documents are prepared. The sheet is nothing less than the foundation upon which the budget exercise kickstarts. There are some prominent economic numbers, in terms of allocation for different ministries, sectors, interest payments are taken into the consideration and mentioned in the blue sheet.

The custody of the blue sheets remains with the Joint Secretary (Budget).

The finance minister is prohibited to take his/her mobile inside the printing area.

The intelligence Bureau personnel guard the documents or sheets round the clock.

The officials that are assigned the task of printing the budget 2019 are locked up in the North Block basement.

Food and lodging are provided to the officials who are locked up in the basement. They are not even allowed to speak to their family members till the time the budget is finally printed.

The incoming and outgoing calls of the finance ministry officials are intercepted to prevent any data leakage.

As the day comes nearer to present the budget, the email facility on the computers of the officials is blocked.

Electronic jammers are installed in the North Block to ensure that there is no data theft or leakage.

Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police keep an eagle’s eye on every movement of the finance ministry officials.

Hence, it is crystal-clear that maintaining the confidentiality of the blue budget sheets is a top priority to ensure it does not goes into the wrong hands and it is presented in the right date and time.