A K Bhattacharya: In love with holidays

NEW DELHI DIARY

People who believe in maximising leisure in life may not be very happy to learn that there is actually a reduction in the number of holidays that the Union government has declared for 2007. It is true that the current calendar year has 18 "gazetted" holidays (one more than in 2006), or days when all central government organisations including their industrial, trading and commercial offices will remain closed. But most people count only those holidays as real holidays which do not clash with either a Saturday or a Sunday, when the government offices are in any case closed. By that reckoning, the actual number of holidays for central government establishments in 2007 is down to 13, from 14 in 2006, when only three out of the 17 "gazetted" holidays fell on Saturdays or Sundays.

A central government employee can of course take two more holidays during a year from among a list of what are called "restricted" holidays. Offices or industrial or commercial establishments under the central government are not expected to be closed on these days, but employees can claim a holiday if they choose to do so. In 2007, there are 19 "restricted" holidays, excluding those which fall on weekends. On many of these restricted holidays, especially those which either precede or follow an existing public holiday, the functioning of central government offices comes to a halt. Thus, in addition to 104 days of weekend holidays, central government offices will remain closed for 13 more days in 2007 and their employees can be off work for two more days. This is in addition to a month-long earned leave that each employee is entitled to in a year.

Does the government of India declare too many holidays in a year? A debate on this issue has been on for quite some time. But no government has mustered the requisite courage to prune the holidays list. The problem starts with the list of "gazetted" holidays. Thirteen public holidays are three more than what the United States government declares as "federal holidays". Scotland and Ireland have both twelve days of public holidays, and England makes do with only eight in a year.

The notification that the Union ministry of personnel issues every year points out that central government establishments can observe up to 16 holidays in a year, including three national holidays, namely Republic Day on January 26, Independence Day on August 15, and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday on October 2. The problem gets complicated here. Why should the government stipulate that central government offices can observe up to 16 holidays in a year? Given the diversity of religion and the increasing lobbying that goes along with this, the government may do well to stay out of such lobbying pressure.

A safer option is to stick to the national holiday principle and compulsorily declare holidays for all establishments on these days of national importance""January 26, August 15 and October 2. The government could then add that individual offices could decide on seven more public holidays depending on their specific requirements.

Setting aside five holidays for Hindu festivals, four for Muslims, two for Christians and one each for the remaining religious groups like the Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists will always remain vulnerable to lobbying pressure from time to time. The rationale for allocating five holidays for Hindu festivals, four for Muslims and two for Christians is bound to be questioned in a society that is increasingly getting intolerant of the minorities. The demand for more "gazetted" holidays for Hindu festivals has already been made by some political groups.

In the face of all this, nothing could establish the secular credentials of a government more comprehensively than a public holidays list consisting of only those three national holidays. In any case, there is no rationale for the central government deciding to declare a holiday on account of Holi, a north Indian festival, for all its offices in the southern states of India. Similarly, there is no reason why central government offices in the southern or eastern states should be compulsorily closed on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti. The central government must recognise the vastness and diversity of this country.

The private sector has already shown the way. Most companies with offices located in different parts of the country follow a policy that honours the principle of observing the three national holidays. The remaining holidays (most companies follow a principle of ten maximum holidays a year) are decided in consultation with the branch offices and are based on the specific requirements in the state or the region concerned. The ministry of personnel can save itself from such micro-management of public holidays and the consequent political risks. In one stroke, it can reduce the total number of public holidays and give more freedom to local or state offices to the freedom to decide their holidays within an overall cap.

akb@business-standard.com