The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday announced the list of public holidays for government offices and commercial banks for 2021. The holidays announced are based on the Negotiable Instruments Act (1881), and do not include regular Sundays.
In the list of 23 holidays, 17 fall on weekdays while six fall on Saturdays and Sundays. The months of January and April have the highest number of holidays, with five each. February, March and June have no holidays, as per the schedule.
The New Year falls on a Friday in 2021. The Pongal holidays begin on a Thursday and end on a Saturday, amounting to four consecutive days when clubbed with the weekend. Ramzan falls on a Friday, leading to three consecutive holidays. Krishna Jayanthi and Vinayaka Chaturthi fall on a Monday and Friday respectively.
The Pooja holidays fall on a Thursday and Friday, amounting to four consecutive holidays. Deepavali falls on a Thursday, while Christmas falls on a Saturday.
The holidays in the first quarter of 2021 are New Year’s Day (January 1, Friday), Pongal (January 14, Thursday), Thiruvalluvar Day (January 15, Friday), Uzhavar Thirunal (January 16, Saturday) and Republic Day (January 26, Tuesday).
In the second quarter, holidays will be on the Annual Closing of Accounts for Commercial and Co-operative Banks (April 1, Thursday), Good Friday (April 2, Friday), Telugu New Year’s Day (April 4, Tuesday), Tamil New Year’s Day and Ambedkar Jayanthi (April 14, Wednesday), Mahaveer Jayanthi (April 25, Sunday), May Day (May 1, Saturday), Ramzan (May 14, Friday) and Bakrid ( July 7, Wednesday).
The third-quarter holidays include Independence Day (August 15, Sunday), Muharram (August 20, Friday), Krishna Jayanthi (August 30, Friday) and Vinayaka Chaturthi (September 30, Monday) as public holidays.
The last quarter has Gandhi Jayanthi (October 2, Saturday), Ayudha Pooja (October 14, Thursday), Vijaya Dasami (October 15, Friday), Eid-e-Milad-Un-Nabi (October 19, Tuesday), Deepavali (November 4, Thursday) and Christmas (December 25, Saturday) as the last set of public holidays for 2021.