23 Chait, Kathmandu. In the wake of the US-Iran war and the Syrian fuel crisis, the government has announced a two-day public holiday.
The government has announced a change in office hours and a public holiday to be implemented from today (Monday), with the strategy of opening offices five days a week instead of six, but extending the period.
According to government spokesperson and education minister Sasmit Pokharel, the said office hours will be applied in case of other than educational institutions. He said, ‘Except for educational institutions, office hours have been maintained from 9 am to 5 pm.’
In Nepal, the practice of working up to 40 hours a week is going on in the public and service sector. Now, 40 hours of office hours were set with 7 hours daily and 5 hours on Fridays. Now it is arranged that they will work for five days at the rate of 8 hours a day.
Along with the government’s decision, courts across the country have issued notices that offices will open at 9 am from Monday. The security agency and the schedule of formal work from there will also be changed. The service private sector will also change the time table.
However, there is no clear blueprint for educational institutions. Time management in informal labor consuming areas has not been finalized yet.
Second attempt in three decades
If we look at the practices since 2056, this is the third time that two days of public holidays have been announced in Nepal. The previous two exercises could not be implemented due to various reasons.
The Administration Reform Commission of 2048 suggested that office hours should be fixed five days a week to increase the efficiency of employees’ work and manage traffic. Congress leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai’s government led this practice in 2056.
The practice of two-day holiday starting from 1st July, 2056 was implemented only in Kathmandu Valley. At that time, the concept of two-day holiday was implemented for the convenience of service delivery and customers. At that time, the two-day holiday practice was implemented for about two years.
When Sher Bahadur Deuba was the Prime Minister, the two-day holiday practice started again for the second time in 2079. On May 1, 2079, the Deuba government conducted an exercise to open the office from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
The exercise, which was initiated at a time when Nepal had a trade deficit and foreign exchange reserves were low, was aimed at reducing fuel consumption. The exercise at that time could not be implemented in about a month.
A path to crisis resolution
Although other countries have adopted the two-day holiday for years, Nepal seems to be trying to adopt it as a solution to the crisis. The concept of two-day holiday has been implemented in Nepal to solve the problem of fuel crisis and traffic jams only.
In 2077, the Ministry of Tourism had started a study and homework on giving two days of government holidays to boost the economy that had stagnated after the corona epidemic and to promote the internal tourism of the country. At that time, a working group formed under the leadership of Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, prepared a report after studying it.
According to the report, at that time 115 out of 127 countries had two days off per week. 91 percent of the countries used to have two days off in a week. Most countries limit the working week to 40 hours or less.
When there was a unified system in the country, the service recipient had to go to the headquarters from remote areas and had to stay for 2/3 days if there was no work, but now most of the services are available at the local level centers.
Showing the same situation, the study committee came to the conclusion that when public holidays are given for two days, the service users will not be affected as in the past.
The study committee estimated the cost reduction that could be achieved by two days of public holidays based on the 2077/78 budget. The committee claimed that one billion 65 lakh rupees can be saved annually.
Support in domestic tourism
The study conducted at the time from the angle of possible support for domestic tourism concluded that family stress would be reduced with a two-day vacation, productivity would increase with adequate rest and entertainment and the domestic tourism of the country would be supported.
Around 500,000 civil servants, soldiers, police, government and private school teachers and government employees got two days off, while 250,000 people dependent on them were forced to study to get family time.
The study estimated that if only eight lakh of them go out for a visit close to home, domestic tourism will be supported and the country’s economy will run because of it.
The study committee claimed that the two-day holiday would have a positive effect on three main areas. Financially, the study committee concluded that the productivity of employees, offices and institutions will increase, and the two-day holiday will help in reducing expenses.
He claimed that it would help domestic tourism and facilitate gender equality as well as family life.
The study committee said in its recommendation, ‘This committee recommends that public bodies should be given two days off a week and that the private sector should be encouraged to make this type of decision.’