The government recently published the public holiday calendar for the year 2082 BS – 14 April 2025 through 13 April 2026, according to the Gregorian calendar – in the Nepal Gazette. A hundred and 40 days in total. Employees are entitled to 12 days of sick leave, 30 days of home leave, and 12 days of casual leave annually. Additionally, they also receive study leave for three years during their service period and an additional three years of exceptional leave. Female employees are entitled to 98 days of maternity leave, and male employees get 15 days of paternity leave. Add to that the 52 Saturdays and another 15 public holidays. If you are a civil servant, you are entitled to a total of 140 public holidays. If you are a provincial or a local government employee, you do not need to worry, either. For, you will be entitled to as many as 140 days under all circumstances. That's nearly five months of holiday altogether.
The government employees and civil servants can avail 18 different holidays. In Nepal, people of all castes and creed, religions and communities get a total of 28 public holidays, including religious and cultural festivals. So much so that Falgun 1 – usually February 13, the day the Maoist launched an armed conflict, ostensibly named the People's War, in 1996 – was earlier marked as a public holiday by courtesy of the Maoist-led government not long ago. The Supreme Court, later, annulled the government’s contested decision to give a public holiday to mark the People’s War. The laws of the land vest powers to declare a holiday with the federal, provincial, and local governments. While the provincial governments can grant up to six days of leave per year according to its operational procedures, the local governments can grant at least three. Both governments, however, are found to have gone overboard, declaring public holidays beyond their mandate. Almost everyone in Nepal agrees that we have too many public holidays, and these must be cut down. A day or two of government holiday in the middle of business week hampers service seekers and all agencies, including the private sector engaged both in service and manufacturing sectors, and the international community working across the country in areas of socio-economic development. They all need to work with one or the other government entities day in, day out. Irrespective of how efficiently or mindfully the people plan out their schedules, a public holiday jumping in out of nowhere does affect the citizens in manners unimaginable.
Excessive holidays trouble service seekers
Back in 2010, the government formed a five-member task force led by the then Home Secretary to assess whether Nepal should cut down on her public holidays. The task force, composed of secretaries representing different ministries, such as the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Culture, recommended the reduction of public holidays. The government did not implement the recommendations. The task force also suggested, granting two holidays a week and setting 9 am to 5 pm as regular working hours. Each of these public holidays comes with a cost, all the more so in a country where doing business is a costly proposition. Should we really have as many holidays? Certainly not. Given where the country stands economically and socially, Nepal must prioritise working more than holidaying or vacationing for the next couple of decades or so.
