#HappyRepublicDay Republic day of India marks 2 important moments in the history of India: 1. To commemorate the day when India became a republic, namely 26th January 1950. 2. To commemorate the day when the Constitution of India was officially enforced. Note: on the same date, that is 26th January, Hindi was declared the official language of the country in 1965. India achieved independence from British rule on 15 August 1947 following the Indian independence movement noted for largely peaceful nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi. India obtained its independence on 15 August 1947 as a constitutional monarchy with George VI as head of state and the Earl Mountbatten as governor-general. The country, though, did not yet have a permanent constitution; instead its laws were based on the modified colonial Government of India Act 1935. On 28 August 1947, the Drafting Committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution, with Dr.B. R. Ambedkar as chairman. While Indias Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates of coming into force of its constitution. A draft constitution was prepared by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 4 November 1947. The Assembly met, in sessions open to public, for 166 days, spread over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution. After many deliberations and some modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document (one each in Hindi and English) on 24 January 1950. Two days later, it came into effect throughout the nation. What is the importance and significance of the Republic Day of India.! Till India gained independence on August 15th, 1947 the country was a colony of the Britain. However, it was only on January 26th 1950 that the people of India truly experienced their freedom from British Rule. It was on this historic day that the Constitution of India was officially enforced, making India a sovereign, secular, and democratic nation. On January 26th 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad took the solemn oath as the first President of independent India at the Durbar Hall in the Government House, Delhi. It was then followed by a Presidential drive along a 5 mile route to the Irwin Stadium, where he hoisted the National Flag followed by a 21 gun salute. Thereby was sown the seeds of the annual tradition of flag hoisting and a parade. 1950 First Republic Day of India speech by Dr.Rajendra Prasad: We must re-dedicate ourselves on this day to the peaceful but sure realization of the dream that had inspired the Father of our Nation and the other captains and soldiers of our freedom struggle, the dream of establishing a classless, co-operative, free and happy society in his country. We must remember that this is more a day of dedications than of rejoicing - dedication to the glorious task of making the peasants and workers the toilers and the thinkers fully free, happy and cultured. Dr. B. R. Ambedkars Speech on Republic Day: I feel that the constitution is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peacetime and in wartime. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile. There is no nation of Indians in the real sense of the world, it is yet to be created. In believing we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into thousand of castes be a nation? The sooner we realise that we are not yet a nation, in a social and psychological sense of the world, the better for us. Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us greater responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is a greater danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing; Our object in framing the Constitution is rally two-fold: (1) To lay down the form of political democracy, and (2) To lay down that our ideal is economic democracy and also to prescribe that every Government whatever is in power shall strive to bring about economic democracy. The directive principles have a great value, for they lay down that our ideal is economic democracy. We should realizes the inherent significance of India becoming a republic: that we, the citizens of India, have the power to govern ourselves by choosing our very own government. Jai Hind
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 10:05:32 +0000