NEW DELHI — In a subterranean workshop in India’s Ministry of Finance, roughly 100 government workers are nearing the end of their captivity.
For nine days and nights, while they proofread, printed and bound 10,000 copies of the budget to be presented on Saturday morning, the workers have been sequestered behind doors sealed with wax and denied access to telephones or email, said officials who have taken part in traditional “lock-ins” in the past.
Food brought in for the workers has been tasted to reduce the risk of food poisoning, which would require removal from the “sanitized” area to a designated room in a government hospital, watched by a “shadow” from India’s Intelligence Bureau. Indeed, some of the pressmen are themselves agents from the bureau, a retired intelligence officer said, planted in the workshop to guard against possible leaks to corporations.
India’s budget always gets a lot of attention, but this year nerves are especially taut. Nine months have passed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi won an election vowing to revive India’s economy, and some of his supporters are expressing impatience with the pace of change.
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“For me, these days are very exciting,” he said. “I am a printer. I want to print such a document that all the world wants to know about.”
Hari Kumar and Suhasini Raj contributed reporting.
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