ndia, being a multicultural and multireligious society, celebrates holidays and festivals of various religions. There are three national holidays in India: states and regions have local festivals depending on prevalent religious and linguistic demographics. Popular religious festivals include the Hindu festivals of Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Dussehra and the Islamic festivals of Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Mawlid an-Nabī which are celebrated throughout the country. Muharram, mourning for the Prophet Muhammad's grandson is observed by some sects of Islam. In addition, the Sikh festivals such as Guru Nanak Jayanti, the Christian festivals such as Christmas, Good Friday and Jain festivals like Mahavir Jayanti, Paryushan are celebrated in certain areas where these religions have a significant following.
While having so many Government Holidays keep in line with the idea of peaceful co-existence of all religions, there have been demands from various public bodies that the system of a multitude of religious holidays is hampering economic activities to a great extent. The past two Central Govt. Pay Commissions[1] have recommended the abolition of all Central Govt. Holidays on religious festivals, and instead, substitute with three national Holidays, i.e., Independence Day (August 15), Republic Day (January 26) and Gandhi Jayanti October 2). It was also recommended to increase the amount of existing Restricted Holidays (Optional Holidays) depending on one's religious persuasion from existing two to eight. The rationale being, 8 holidays can more than cater for the festivals of any particular religion. So there is no point in having more than these many number of holidays, since religion does not warrant a Hindu to celebrate Iid or a Muslim to celebrate Diwali. With the proposed system, however, it was left to the individual to chose which 8 Holidays to celebrate, irrespective of his religious belief. However, this logical recommendation has not been accepted by the Govt. of India, fearing a loss of popularity, and thus Indian Govt. continues with an unusually large number of religious holidays as compared to most other countries.
The following is a List of Festivals in India that are declared public holidays in the calendar of Government of India or the States or both in some cases:
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