Every year on January 26, India commemorates the adoption of the constitution in 1950, when the former South Asian British colony transformed into a sovereign, democratic, and republic nation after achieving independence in 1947.
Why the Republic Day celebrated on 26th January?
The Constituent Assembly adopted the Indian Constitution on November 26, 1949, and it went into effect on January 26, 1950. This marked the end of India’s transition to an independent republic with a democratic government system. The date of January 26 was also chosen to commemorate Republic Day because it was on this date in 1929 that the Indian National Congress (INC) issued the Declaration of Indian Independence. This was in contrast to the British ‘dominion’ status.
The Indian Independence Act 1947, an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament that partitioned British India into the two new independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, gave India its independence on 15 August 1947 as a constitutional monarchy as head of state and Earl Mountbatten as governor-general. The country, however, lacked a permanent constitution and instead relied on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935.
On August 29, 1947, a resolution was moved to appoint a Drafting Committee to draught a permanent constitution, with Dr. B R Ambedkar as chairman. While India’s Independence Day commemorates the country’s independence from British rule, Republic Day commemorates the implementation of the country’s constitution. The committee prepared a draught constitution, which was submitted to the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1947.
Before adopting the Constitution, the Assembly met for 166 days in open sessions over a two-year, 11-month, and 18-day period. On January 24, 1950, after much deliberation and some moderation, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two handwritten copies of the document (one in Hindi and one in English). It went into effect across the country two days later, on January 26, 1950. On that day, Dr. Rajendra Prasad became India’s first president. Under the new law’s transitional provisions, the Constituent Assembly has renamed the Parliament of India.
In India, Republic Day is a national holiday. Schools, on the other hand, mark the occasion with patriotic zeal and enthusiasm, with students and teachers organizing cultural programs and performances to make the occasion memorable.
Republic Day – 26 January 2023
The day is remembered as a watershed moment in the modern history of the world’s largest democracy when power was transferred from the post-independence monarchy to the Indian people. It has become an occasion to celebrate the South Asian powerhouse’s democratic traditions and military might, as well as its cultural and regional diversity.
This year’s 74th Republic Day will be marked, as in previous years, with a grand military and cultural parade on Kartavya Path, the newly refurbished three-kilometer-long broadway that is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Central Vista project in the heart of the capital New Delhi.
The event will be attended by India’s newly appointed President Droupadi Murmu, Mr. Modi, his cabinet colleagues, opposition leaders, foreign diplomats, and the Republic Day chief guest Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
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