Public Holidays in India, also known as Government Holidays colloquially, consist of a variety of cultural, nationalistic, and religious

holidays A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

that are legislated in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

at the union or

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

levels. Being a culturally diverse country, there are many festivals celebrated in various regions across the country. There are only three national holidays declared by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially calle ...

(26 January),

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

(15 August) and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October). Apart from this, certain holidays which are celebrated nationally are declared centrally by the Union Government. Additionally, various state governments and union territories designate additional holidays on local festivals or days of importance as holidays as per section 25 of the

Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 is an act in India dating from the British Raj, British colonial rule, that is still in force with significant amendments recently. It deals with the law governing the usage of negotiable instruments in India. Th ...

National holidays

National holidays are mandatory holidays declared by

which is applicable for all

states and union territories of India India is a federalism, federal union comprising 28 federated state, states and 8 union territory, union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 List of districts ...

Central holidays

In addition to the four fixed national holidays, Union Government of India declares additional days as holidays which are largely followed by central government offices and affiliates. In addition to designated fixed holidays, few other days are designated optional from which select number of days can be chosen according to individual convenience.

Fixed

Source:

Optional

Source:

State holidays

In addition to the above, various state governments and union territories designate additional holidays on local festivals or days of importance as holidays as per section 25 of the

Harvest festivals

New year

State days

Birth and anniversary days

Religious days

Others

Banks have specific holidays according to the various states or union territories in addition to every second and fourth Saturdays of the month. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions have specific term holidays according to the state or board.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Public Holidays in India *

Holidays A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...