Context: Recently, the Vice President of India has wished the people on the occasion of Ugadi, Gudi Padava, Sajibu Cheiraoba, Navreh and Cheti Chand which mark the beginning of a new year in different parts of India.

About Ugadi and Gaudi Padva

• Ugadi, a new year celebration in states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
• As India is known for its versatile culture and the way it is celebrated, even the New Year fest has different names and times in different parts of the country.
• A famous concoction served is jaggery (sweet) and neem (bitter), called bevu-bella in the South, signifying that life brings both happiness and sorrows.
•  A festival that is known by the name of Gudi Parva in Maharashtra, is celebrated as Ugadi in some other states.
• Under this Gudi Parva -Gudi is a doll prepared in Maharashtrian homes. A bamboo stick is adorned with green or red brocade to make the gudi. This gudi is placed prominently in the house or outside a window/ door for all to see.
• Clear with its name Udagi or Yugadi, which is literally translated as the start of the new calendar – Yug (new) and adi (the beginning), falls on the first day of Chitra- the first month in Hindi calendar. 
• It is also the first day when there is a change in pattern of moon’s orbit. Ugadi is celebrated a day after the first new moon and after the sun passes the celestial equator on the spring equinox.
• Ugadi celebration also includes an almanac reading out of ‘panchangam’ by the eldest member of the family or a learned priest, who typically makes predictions for the upcoming year. The predictions are made out of the moon signs.

About Sajibu Cheiraoba

• It is an annual religious celebration of Manipur in which certain rites and rituals are observed with a traditional devotion. The celebration marks the parting of the old year while welcoming the new year.
• The name 'Cheiraoba' is a combination of two words which have two different meanings - 'Chahi' (year) and 'laoba' (declaration). It also means 'Chei (stick) and 'laoba' (declaration).
• To celebrate the festival people organise a joint family feast. Traditional dishes are served to the local deities at the entrance gates of the houses.
• After feasting, believers climb nearby hilltops in order to offer prayers. It is believed that this will elevate them to greater heights in life. 
• Later, in the evening local group folk dance namely Thabal Chongba is organised as a mark of celebration.

About Navreh

• Kashmiri Pandits celebrate their New Year's Day, Navreh, on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada or the first day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra
• The Beginning of the Lunar New Year is celebrated in Kashmir as Navreh. 
• This festival falls on the first day of the Chaitra Navratras (auspicious nine days of Spring) and start of a new year according to the Sapath Rishi Sambat.

About Chaitra Shukla Pratipada

• It means the first day after the new moon in the month of Chaitra [hindi lunar calendar] or you can also say it as the first day during the waxing phase of moon in the Chaitra Month.
• It marks the beginning of the New Year of Vikram Samvat or better known as Vedic [Hindu] Calendar.
• However, the famous Vikram Samvat is based on the day when Vikramaditya defeated Sakas and invaded Ujjain. He called for a new era. 

About Cheti Chand

• The Cheti Chand festival marks the arrival of Spring and harvest and the start of Hindu New Year for Sindhi Hindus.
• Sindhis celebrate the new year as Cheti Chand. Chaitra month is called 'Chet' in Sindhi.
• It is seen as an auspicious day for business as it also marks the start of the new financial year.
• However, it also marks the birthday of Uderolal in the year 1007, after the Sindhis prayed to Varuna, the god of the Sindhu river, to save them from the persecution by a despotic ruler named Mirkhshah. 
• Uderolal took the form of a warrior and old man, called Jhulelal, who convinced Mirkhshah that Muslims and Hindus deserve the same religious freedoms.
• Jhulelal became the key deity of the Sindhi people, and is as a bearded figure holding a book and a mala (string of beads) sitting on a fish.
• He is also revered by Sufi Muslims, who associate him with Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a Sufi saint.