Gandhi Jayanti, the birthday of ‘Father of Nation’ Mahatama Gandhi is not a ‘National Holiday’. Surprised??????...I am not joking. This is true that October 2 is not a national. Although we all have grown up witnessing October 2 as the national holiday but the government at the Centre has no such record available. Not only Gandhi Jayanti / Birthday of Gandhi, there are no government orders available with the Home Ministry which notify January 26 and August 15 as the national holidays.
The revelation has been made in response to an RTI query by a 10-year-old girl Aishwarya Parashar. She had put the question to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in April this year. The PMO transferred her application to the ministry of home, which, in turn, forwarded the application to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) saying the subject matter of the application, the declaration of national holidays, does not pertain to MHA.
After lots of twists and turns, however, the ministry of home, on May 17, said the government has issued no such order which notifies January 26, August 15 and October 2 as the national holidays. Dissatisfied with the response, the girl moved an appeal to the Home Ministry saying she has learnt about national holidays through her text books and that ministry probably has erred in saying that it does not possess any order on declaration of national holidays.
However, the response to the appeal only upheld the response of the ministry. The appellate authority, however, also made a request to the National Archives to provide the copy of the order, if any, to the girl. The response from the national archives is still awaited. Meanwhile, the girl has written to both the President and the Prime Minister seeking the answer to her query.
