Dr Vishiesh Verma
Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “To declare my birthday as a holiday should be classified as a cognizable offence”. ‘Assam Times’, 6th August 2009 source: Harijan, October 15, 1938. I fail to understand the compulsion of Indian leaders for not honouring Gandhiji’s wish.
India is probably the only country where a holiday is declared in the event of the death of a politician or leader. When Churchil died, Great Britain didn’t declare a holiday. In the US work was stopped for two hours when President Kennedy expired. When Stalin died on March 5, 1953, only 2 minutes of silence was observed in the then USSR but in India not only were both the houses of Parliament were adjourned but a public holiday was declared. In 1989 when King Hirohito of Japan died offices, schools and colleges remained opened there as usual. On the other hand when the Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai died, the Maharashtra Government announced two days holiday to mourn his death followed by two public holidays.
A school year must be long enough to do justice to the system and the students. If it is only around 180 days, we are simply wasting about one-half of each calendar year. What wastage of useful time it is. In Japan for instance, the school year is 220 days long, in China it is 251 days duration, in Taiwan and South Korea it is 222 days long. The number of days on which schools and colleges in our country work is lowest in the world.
Holiday culture is closely related with the work ethics and value of time. In fact time is the only factor which can never be increased. One can increase one’s skills, knowledge, experience, wealth etc. But time is limited, it is running, it can’t be brought back. The value of time should become the first lesson in our educational institutions. All our education programs should reflect wise, economic and fruitful use of time.
A look at Government of India’s official list of 55 holidays (2014, both national and state) of infinite variety questions our sincerity to work hard for nation building. There are holidays ranging from Independence Day and Republic day to Id-e-Milad, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Whereas western dictionaries describe ‘secularism’ as the absence of religion, our secularism favors a multitude of religions: the birthdays of Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Ravi Dass and even Maharishi Valmiki are legitimate excuses to have a day off, as are the ascensions of Buddha, Christ and Mahavira of the Jains. Going a step further, we have Hindu festivals of Mahashivratri and Ganesh Chaturthi, in honour of the Gods Shiva and Ganesh respectively. Then there is Parsi New Year and the Shia Muharram. We have secular harvest festivals of Onam, Baisakhi etc. The birthday of Mahatma Gandhi has its due place. Holi and Raksha Bandhan are also part of our holiday list. During V.P.Singh’s regime Ambedkar Jayanti and birthday of Prophet of Islam were declared public holidays. Even Muslim countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia do not have a holiday on Prophet’s birthday. With the exception of a few widely celebrated festivals majority of our population does not even know the significance of the festivals for which they are granted holiday.
Secular India pays a heavy price in terms of economic losses as it merely celebrates the festivals of all the communities with gazetted holidays. Can we promote secularism by forcing holidays on ninety percent of the working population for festivals connected with the minority community? And why should the members of minority communities be forced to stay away from work on a Hindu festival day? Last but not least, Indians enjoy unofficial holidays granted by the institutions on flimsy grounds. For example, the World Cup season translated into a loss of 768 million man hours, as noted by the Times Editorial, on the basis of a report (TOI, April 2, 2011) It was either due to collective sick leave or pure absenteeism in view of the world cup shows.
For the record, it is India on top when one talks of holidays. According to a website study, India records the highest average of holidays during working days. With an average of 23.8, India is head and shoulders above the US, which stands at 9.2 and the UK at 7.8. One may find 13 public holidays in the US. The same is the case with Germany and Switzerland. Austria and the Philippines account for ten each. Brazil, Sweden and Britain enjoy only 8 holidays each. China celebrates the Labour Day, the youth day, the international child’s day, the people’s Liberation Army Day and the spring festival. Obviously, these Chinese holidays are meant for celebration only. The Russian Government sanctions only seven public holidays. In Russia too, the international women’s year, the spring festival, the Labor Day and the Defender of the Fatherland Day is celebrated. These nations keep in mind the national traditions and the national future being built by the present. In the US, over 24 days are celebrated in a year for various causes but these days are not idle holidays. Even Pakistan observers only 12 holidays. Similarly, the other Islamic countries observe a limited number of holidays.
Due to holiday culture, an average Indian works 1400 hours in a year, while Japanese works for 2100 hours. The American works for 1700 hours in a year and the Canadians put in 2000 hours work. An average European worker records 1700-1800 hours work. Thus we have the shortest working year in the world.
Rajiv Gandhi introduced the five day week in the central civil services. The idea was to enhance productivity between Monday and Friday. Though a five day week means more number of working hours. Beginning at 9.15 AM and leaving at 5.45 PM, but invariable employees are found arriving late and leaving early.
We live in the world which works by 24x7x365 calculating hours. The economies all over the world are seeking to increase the working hours to boost productivity. Any single day’s loss in activity should be treated as a national loss. When our offices, business houses remain closed the country pays the heavy price in terms of social and economic loss. The holiday mania has crippled our economy. Some foreign banks work for seven days in a week and offer service for 24 hours a day. The nationalized banks in our country have failed to earn good reputation for their working culture. Judiciary too now is being criticized for its long vacations. There had been a colonial practice for granting a long summer vacation for high courts and Supreme Court. The practice came into being in British India to allow the white judges to escape from tropical heat and go home, this practice has no relevance in Free India. How can Judges enjoy vacations when the number of pending cases in courts is increasing at an alarming rate? In fact, there is no dearth of punctual, hardworking and sincere people in India. In many private companies majority of Indians ‘work’ 80-hour weeks, the highest average worldwide. The quality of contribution and the duration of working depends on the work culture of the institution.
For a country struggling to forge ahead in a competitive world, excessive holidays are a scourge. A Central authority should be appointed to control excess in holidays. Our holidays require to be drastically curtailed.
(The writer is a former reader Coordinator of University of Jammu.)
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