MS Dhoni’s daughter Ziva was born on February 6, 2015, while he was leading India at the Cricket World Cup. Asked whether he would go home, he said: “But, as of now, I am on national duty, so I think everything else can wait.” The wording varies slightly from one report to another.
Two Festivals of One’s Own
Central government offices in India close on a fixed list of compulsory holidays. Each year the Department of Personnel and Training also publishes a list of restricted holidays, most of them festivals of the different religious communities. In Delhi, from this list “each employee will also be allowed to avail himself/herself of any two holidays.” Offices elsewhere use a somewhat different scheme.
Leave to See One’s Parents
The government of Assam gave its employees special casual leave on November 6 and 8, 2024. The leave was “solely for spending time with aging parents or parents-in-law.” In 2025 the days were November 14 and 15, a Friday and a Saturday, just before a Sunday.
Part of the Salary
On September 15, 2017, the Assam assembly passed the PRANAM Bill, short for Parental Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring. It covers government employees who neglect their parents. The government “may deduct 10-15 percent of the salary of the employee.”
Maintenance of Parents
Under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act of 2007, children and grandchildren are legally obliged to maintain their parents. A parent can apply to a tribunal, which should decide within 90 days.
Under Section 24, leaving a senior citizen somewhere “with the intention of wholly abandoning” that person is a crime. It is punishable with up to three months in prison, a fine of up to 5,000 rupees, or both.
Shravan Kumar
Shravan Kumar is the devoted son of Indian tradition. His parents were blind, and he took them on pilgrimage. He put each of them in a basket and tied the baskets to the ends of a bamboo pole, which he carried on his shoulders. In the Ramayana, King Dasharatha kills him by mistake with an arrow.
A document of the Odisha tourism department calls him “a symbol of unflinching dedication to parents.”
The Hindi Exam on Holi
The Central Board of Secondary Education set its Class 12 Hindi exam for March 15, 2025. Holi fell on March 14 in most of India, but in a few places it was celebrated on March 15.
The board did not move the exam. In a circular of March 13, it said that students who could not appear because of Holi “would be given an opportunity to appear” in a later special examination.
Twelve Days of Leave
In June 2026 the payroll company Deel published data on paid leave in the Asia-Pacific region. Indian workers took a median of 12 days of leave in 2025. Only 17.2 percent used all their leave.
Rakesh Gaur of Deel suggested several reasons: “workload pressures, cultural habits, or a tendency to save leave for important periods like festivals or family events.”
Kindly Adjust
Kindly adjust. In 2018 Shashi Tharoor gave the phrase in The Week as typical Indian English, “said apologetically by the seventh person squeezing onto a bench meant for four.” He ended his column: “And if you don’t like it, kindly adjust.”
The Right to Leave
Rule 7 of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, is headed “Right to leave.” Its first sub-rule reads: “Leave cannot be claimed as of right.” The second adds: “When the exigencies of public service so require, leave of any kind may be refused or revoked…”
In 2014 the Supreme Court quoted the rule in Kakali Ghosh v. Chief Secretary, Andaman and Nicobar Administration.
A rule headed “Right to leave” begins by saying that leave cannot be claimed as of right.