NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 21 It's been long overdue but finally the Government has moved even if it’s now at the proposal stage: to cut down the number of holidays Central government staff enjoy.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has prepared a proposal under which all 14 religious holidays marked ‘‘Gazetted holidays’’ (means, applicable to all employees) will be scrapped. Instead, religious events will now fall under a fixed number (between 7 and 10) of ‘‘restricted holidays.’’

In other words, all Central undertakings will function on these days and it’s up to the employee to choose which religious festival to take off.

At present, Government employees get 17 gazetted holidays. These include three national holidays—January 26, August 15 and October 2—and 14 holidays on religious events, including Holi, Good Friday, Diwali, Dussehra, Id, Mahavir Jayanti, Christmas, Guru Nanak Jayanti. And two restricted holidays.