The Saka calendar used as the official civil calendar in the country is the National Calendar of India. It is used, through notification in the Official Gazette by the Government of India, in news broadcasts by All India Radio, calendars and communication documents issued under the control of Government of India. The Saka calendar which is one of the Hindu calendar was originally named as Saka Samvat.
It is also used for the calculation of days of religious significance in the Hindu Religion.
The Saka calendar was adopted as the National Calendar in the year 1957 by the Calendar Reforms Committee set up by the Government of India. The Committee made efforts to co-incide the astronomical data and harmonise the usage of this calendar after rectification of some local errors.
It came into use from March 22, 1957 according to the Gregorian calendar which was actually Chaitra 1, 1879 according to the Saka Samvat. It was adopted as the National Calendar of India in order to synchronise the usage of 30 different kinds of calendars used in India at that time.