Bihar government holiday list 2026

Good to know

• On a Sunday. The list also names Sant Ravidas Jayanti (1 February); Maha Shivratri (15 February); Bihar Diwas (22 March); Durga Puja (18 October); Diwali (8 November); Chhath Puja (first day) (15 November). These fall on a Sunday, so they are not counted here.
• The Bihar notification has Schedule-1: 11 'general holidays' under executive order for all state offices and revenue magistrate courts; Schedule-3: public holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act (notified for the state, including Republic Day, Holi, Eid, Independence Day, Diwali); Schedule-2 optional; Schedule-4 annual bank closing.
• The list here combines Schedule-1 and the Schedule-3 public holidays, which together give 35 holiday days (ETV Bharat), matching the reports that state employees get 35 days of which 6 fall on Sundays. Whether government offices observe every Schedule-3 day was not confirmed from the notification wording that was read; news reports (Amar Ujala, ETV) present them together as holidays for state offices.
• Schedule-1 (general): Basant Panchami, Sant Ravidas Jayanti, Shab-e-Barat, Maha Shivratri, Samrat Ashok Ashtami, Veer Kunwar Singh Jayanti, Janaki Navami, Kabir Jayanti, Chehlum, Durga Puja Saptami, Chitragupt Puja/Bhai Dooj.
• 1 May carries two holidays on one date (May Day and Buddha Purnima).
• Six holidays fall on a Sunday (listed separately). Id-ul-Fitr, Janaki Navami, Independence Day and Durga Puja Saptami fall on a Saturday and are kept in the main list because the Bihar Saturday rule is unknown.
• Id-ul-Fitr (21 Mar), Bakrid (28 May), Muharram (26 Jun), Chehlum (4 Aug) and Milad-un-Nabi (26 Aug) depend on the moon; the notification gives these Hijri dates and no revision for Bihar was found.
• Bank-only: 1 April (annual closing of bank accounts) is Schedule-4. Optional holidays (e.g. Makar Sankranti, Raksha Bandhan, Vishwakarma Puja, Chhath Kharna, Christmas Eve, Eid on 22 Mar and 29 May) are not in the list.
• The last part of Schedule-3 (Gandhi Jayanti, Durga Puja, Diwali, Chhath, Christmas) was not in the PDF copy that was read; those dates come from three or more agreeing news reports.
• Schools follow a separate Education Department calendar (75 holidays); this list is for state government offices.
• Optional holidays. State employees may take up to 3 optional (restricted) holidays (TeamLease, Sakshi Post). The official PDF copy shows 17 of the optional holidays; ETV and Sakshi Post list 22.
• Saturdays. We could not confirm which Saturdays are off for state offices, so only Sundays are counted as weekly offs.
• Source difference. Holi: 3 and 4 March both holidays (official Schedule-3); greytHR and factohr show only 3 March, greytHR also shows 2 March. Official text followed.
• Source difference. Ram Navami: 27 March (official, Keka, ETV, Amar Ujala) vs 26 March in central lists; hono.ai/greytHR show 27 April (wrong). 26 March in Bihar is Samrat Ashok Ashtami. Chose 27 March.
• Source difference. Bakrid: 28 May in the Bihar notification (optional Bakrid is 29 May); factohr and some lists show 27 May. Chose 28 May per official text.
• Festivals tied to the moon, such as the Eid festivals and Muharram, can move by a day. Any change is announced at short notice.

Building your company's Bihar calendar

If you run HR for a company with staff in Bihar, treat this list as your starting point. Add the national days your policy gives, decide whether you offer floating holidays, say in writing what happens when a holiday falls on a weekend, and publish the final calendar before the year begins. If you have offices in several states, keep one calendar for each.

For the central government list, see Central Government holiday list 2026.

Source

Bihar Government notification No. 3/H-01/2025 (GA 15401 / SA 154.01), General Administration Department, Government of Bihar, dated 19 August 2025 (holidays for 2026), as read from Bihar GAD notification, partial copy (PDF on The Current India, source credited to governor.bih.nic.in), ETV Bharat Hindi, Amar Ujala (GAD notification report) and The Current India, read on 10 November 2026. We read the notification text from Bihar GAD notification, partial copy (PDF on The Current India, source credited to governor.bih.nic.in), ETV Bharat Hindi, Amar Ujala (GAD notification report) and The Current India, because we could not open the copy on the Bihar government site. Dates and weekdays are as printed there and checked against the calendar. Weekdays were checked against the calendar. Rules last reviewed 9 November 2026.