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.
All Leave Cancelled
In January 2025 the Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Kumar, cancelled the leave of the entire state police force until the end of the Maha Kumbh on February 26. “Uttar Pradesh Police has cancelled the leaves of all its personnel till the conclusion of the Maha Kumbh 2025,” Republic reported. The festival began on January 13.
Absent from Election Duty
On January 12, 2026, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation filed a police complaint against an assistant executive engineer of CIDCO, the Maharashtra city development agency. The engineer had been appointed a zonal officer for the municipal elections and stayed away. The police “registered a case under Section 134 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”
A few days later, 155 government employees in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar area were booked for missing their election duty.
Most Vacation-Deprived
In 2018 the travel company Expedia surveyed adults in 19 countries. “India with 75 percent was the most vacation-deprived country in the world,” People Matters reported. The main reason for not going on vacation, given by 41 percent of Indians, was “Can’t get time off work.”
On average, Indians took 15 of the 20 days of holiday they received. The survey found that 34 percent checked their e-mail at least once a day while on vacation.
Thirty-Six-Hour Shifts
According to Medical Dialogues, the Residency Scheme of 1992 limits the duty of resident doctors in India to 12 hours a day and 48 hours a week. In practice, the same report says, they are “often made to work continuous 24 to 36-hour shifts with minimal breaks.”
The National Medical Commission’s rules of 2023 say that residents “will work for reasonable working hours,” and set no limit. In 2025 the Supreme Court asked the central government and the Commission to respond to a petition against such hours.
Two Days of Special Leave
A manager of the Central Bihar Rural Bank in Buxar district, Munna Prasad, asked several times for leave to take his wife for kidney dialysis. The bank refused, citing a staff shortage.
In protest he then applied for “special leave from office just for two days,” to kill his wife and perform her last rites. He sent copies to the President and the Prime Minister, Gulf News reported.
Leave Denied
In April 2024 a police constable posted in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, asked repeatedly for leave to care for his wife and their newborn daughter. The station officer refused. Days later his wife and the baby died in Mainpuri.
The police then gave the constable 30 days of emergency leave. They said that “action was taken against SO who denied leave to the constable.”
Too Many Hours
In July 2025 Infosys was reported to be sending emails to employees whose hours of remote work went beyond its limits. The emails listed the days worked from home, the total hours and the average per day. “We must work for 9.15 hours a day for five days a week,” an employee told The Economic Times.
This is the company whose co-founder, Narayana Murthy, had asked young Indians to work 70 hours a week.
Ten Days for Holi
Ashok Kumar, an inspector in the writ cell of the Superintendent of Police’s office in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, applied for ten days of leave for Holi. He wrote that his wife had not celebrated Holi at her parents’ home for 22 years and was pressing him to take her there.
The Superintendent granted five days.