Akhilesh unhappy over scrapping of holidays by Adityanath govt

The Uttar Pradesh government's decision to cancel 15 public holidays on the birth or death anniversary of eminent personalities did not go down well with former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
"Samajwadis have given maximum holidays," he said here today on the decision taken by the UP cabinet.
Akhilesh was asked by mediapersons to comment on the Yogi Adityanath government's decision to prune the list of official holidays.
Most of the holidays had been declared by the previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) governments apparently to keep certain sections of the society in good humour and often with an eye on the vote bank.

The state cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath yesterday decided to cancel 15 such public holidays in educational institutions.
"Instead, students in schools and colleges would now be taught about the great personalities on these days," Cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma said briefing mediapersons.

An official release said government employees were free to avail restricted holidays on these days.
Adityanath had in his address on the occasion of B R Ambedkar's 126th birth anniversary here expressed concern over the shrinking academic session due to increased holidays.
"There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversary 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 had said.

In Uttar Pradesh, there are 42 public holidays of which at least 17 are related to the birth anniversaries of eminent personalities.
The SP 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).
Public holidays that have been scrapped by the new government include Jan Nayak Karpori Thakur birth anniversary (Jan 24), Maharshi Kashyap and Maharaj Guha birth anniversary (Apr 5), Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Ajmeri Gareeb Nawaz Urs on (Apr 14), Chandrashekhar birth anniversary (Apr 17), Parashu Ram Jayanti (Apr 28), Maharana Pratap Jayanti (May 9), Jamat Ul Vida on June 23 (last Friday of Ramzan), Chhat Puja (Oct 26), Eid Milad Un Nabi (Dec 2), Chaudhary Charan Singh Jayanti (Dec 23).