Yogi Adityanath cancelled 15 state holidays on birth, death anniversaries in Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday cancelled 15 public holidays marking the birth or death anniversary of eminent personalities.

Instead, students in schools and colleges would now be taught about them on these days, the state cabinet decided in a meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

"The cabinet has cancelled 15 public holidays marking the anniversaries of great personalities. Students will now be taught on these days about these figures through various programmes," minister Shrikant Sharma said after the cabinet meeting.

Adityanath in his address on the occasion of Dr BR Ambedkar's 126th birth anniversary expressed concern over the shrinking academic session due to increased holidays.

"There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities. Instead, a special two- hour programme should be held to teach students about them. The 220-day academic session has been reduced to only 120 days due to such holidays and if this tradition continues, there will be no day left for teaching in schools," he said.

In Uttar Pradesh, there are 42 public holidays of which at least 17 are related to the birth anniversaries of eminent personalities.

The previous Samajwadi Party government had declared holidays on the birth anniversaries of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar (April 17), Maharishi Kashyap and Maharshi Nishadraj Jayanti (April 5), Hazrat Ajmeri Garib Nawaj Urs (April 26), Maharana Pratap Jayanti (May 9) besides on the death anniversary of Ambedkar (December 6).

Sharma said the revised list of holidays will soon be made available.

Holidays                                                                                                                          Date

Karpoori Thakur's birth anniversary                                              Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Cheti Chand                                                                              Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Maharshi Kashyap and Maharaj Guha birth anniversary                   Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Hazrat Khwaja Muiuddin Chishti Ajmeri Garib Nawaj Urs                    Friday, April 14, 2017
Chandrashekhar's birth anniversary                                              Monday, April 17, 2017
Parshuram Jayanti                                                                      Friday, April 28, 2017
Maharana Pratap Jayanti                                                             Tuesday, May 09, 2017
Jamat-ul-Alvida (Last Friday of Ramzan)                                       Friday, June 23, 2017
Vishva Karma Puja                                                                      Sunday, September 17, 2017
Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti                                                            Thursday, September 21, 2017
Maharshi Valmiki Jayanti                                                             Thursday, October 05, 2017
Chhath Puja                                                                               Thursday, October 26, 2017
Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel and Acharya Narendra Dev Jayanti            Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Eid-e-Miladul Nabi                                                                       Saturday, December 02, 2017
Chaudhary Charan Singh Jayanti                                                   Saturday, December 23, 2017