Gandhi Jayanti is not holiday for Raj varsities this year

State universities in Rajasthan won’t be observing a holiday for Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 this year.

The new holiday calendar issued by the office of Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, also the chancellor of all state universities, has listed 24 holidays for the academic year 2017-18. In October, there are holidays only for Moharram (October 1) and Diwali (October 13-21).

The calendar, incidentally, has declared holidays on the birth anniversaries of Ramdev (folk deity of Rajasthan), Guru Nanak, BR Ambedkar, Lord Mahavira and Maharana Pratap. The list was sent to 12 state universities two months ago. Some have already adopted it while the rest will follow suit when their respective governing bodies meet next.

A Raj Bhawan spokesperson said, “October 2 holiday has not been declared in the state government’s higher education department. Raj Bhawan has issued the holiday calendar for the universities according to the gazetted holiday calendar issued by the state government.”

Higher education minister Kiran Maheshwari said the department did not declare Gandhi Jayanti a holiday because all schools, colleges and universities of the state observe celebrations and are open. N Radhakrishnan, chairman, Indian Council for Gandhian Studies, has been leading a movement to have Gandhi’s birth and death anniversaries declared as working days.

WHILE SOME UNIVERSITIES HAVE ALREADY ADOPTED THE LIST OF HOLIDAYS, THE REST WILL FOLLOW SUIT WHEN THEIR GOVERNING BODIES NEXT MEET