January 1, 1562 was declared New Year instead of April 1: Decree of Charles

French King Charles IX in 1563  modified the French calendar by moving the opening of the year from Easter Day to January 1st. Later a law passed by the French Parliament on Dec. 22, 1564.

January took the name from God Janus.  In 46 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman Calendar and adopted 12 months system instead of a 10-month system.

In 1582, Pope Gregory issued a papal bull in the same direction, but in France, it was already in practice from 1st January 1565 by the law of parliament. Other Christian countries soon started to adopt them. So 1st official ‘April fool’ day was on 1st April 1565 to play a prank on the people by the official clowns.

In Britain, the new year was started on January 1 in 1752.

Halwa Ceremony in India

In Bharat(India) with the preparation of Halua/Halwa(traditional Sweet) ceremony, the finance ministry starts to print budget documents and all those printing officials partake the Halwa are placed locked quarantine for at least 10 days for completion of the safe printing.  Till 1950, the Budget documents used to print at  Rashtrapati Bhavan press, but due to leakage in the same year, the venue was shifted to Minto Road and later to the North Block basement which has been the permanent printing press since 1980(Decan Herald 1919 June). The usual Financial year for Taxing purpose starts on 1st April and ends on 31st March. Indian Reserve Bank has followed a July-June financial year from 1940 till date.

The Indian National Calendar or Saka Sambat Calendar(Luni-solar) was adopted in 1957 CE. 

It stared on March 22(1st Chaitra) on the birthday of King Shalivahana of the Shatavahana Dynasty on 78th CE. 

Therefore deducting 78 from the Common era would generate present Sakabda. Indian official Gazette mention the date.

The Calendar Reform Committee

The Calendar Reform Committee was appointed in November, 1952, by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (of the Government of India) headed by Dr. Meghnad Saha with the following terms of reference :

“To examine all the existing calendars which are being followed in the country at present and after a scientific study of the subject, submit proposals for an accurate and uniform calendar fot· the whole of India”.

It has been pointed out (p. 171) that the Gregorian calendar, which is used all over the world for civil and administrative purposes, is a very unscientific and inconvenient one. The World Calendar (p. 173), proposed by the World Calendar Association of New York, has been examined and found suitable for modern life. The proposal for its adoption by all the countries of the world for civil and administrative purposes was sponsored by the Indian Government before the UNO. and debated before the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) at Geneva in June, 1954 (p. 173) and its recommendations have been transmitted to the Governments of the World for their opinion. It is hoped that the World Calendar will be ultimately adopted. It will lead to a great simplification of modern life.

Read the full report REPORT of the calendar reform committee govt of India 1955

The names of the months in Saka Calendar are:

• Chhaitra (March 21 – April 20) 31 days in leapyear
• Vaishakha (April 21-May 21)
• Jyeshtha (May 22-June 21)
• Ashadha (June 22- July 22)
• Shravana (July 23-August 22)
• Bhaadra (August 22-September 22)
• Ashwin (September 23-October 22)
• Kartika (October 23-November 21)
• Agrahayana (November 22-December 21)
• Pausha (December 22-January 20)
• Magha (January 21- February 19) and
• Phalguna (February 20-March 20/21)

Financial/Taxing Year

Australia/Bangladesh/Mauritius 1 July – 30 June

India/Singapore/South Africa/New Zealand 1 April – 31 March

China/Germany/Israel/ Italy/ UAE/Indonesia/Turkey/Switzerland/Russia 1st January to 31st December

Iran 21 March – 20 March

United Kingdom 6 April – 5 April

United States 1 October – 30 September

Nehemiah 2:1 (And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.)

Islamic Lunar New Year starts off with Muharram followed by Safar, Rabi al-awwal, Rabi al-Thani, Jumada al-awwal as per Hizri Calander. Islamic  Hizri calendar consists of 12 months similar to the Gregorian calendar consists of 354-355 days unlike in place of  365-366 days in the Gregorian Calander.