Wednesday 25 January 2012

Republic Day


Tomorrow is the Republic Day of India ,a long awaited national holiday and in case , clubbed together with a weekend its a bonus, a get away from work  for a long weekend . I doubt many of us even bother to remember the architects  or the history  behind formation of India and Pakistan (Pakistan  obtained its independence from the British Raj the 14th of August 1947. 23rd March was originally supposed to commemorate the adoption of the first constitution of Pakistan and thus the declaration of Pakistan as a republic)
To mark the importance of the occasion, every year a grand parade is held in the capital, New Delhi, from the Raisina Hill near the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's Palace), along the Rajpath, past India Gate . Prior to its commencement, the Prime Minister lays a floral wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti, a memorial to unknown soldiers at the India Gate at one end of Rajpath, which is followed by two minutes silence in the memory of unknown soldiers. Thereafter he/she reaches the main dais at Rajpath to join other dignitaries, subsequently the President arrives along with the chief guest of the occasion and unfurls the National flag, which is followed by The Beating Retreat ceremony which officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities. It is conducted on the evening of January 29, the third day after the Republic Day.
 The partition of India was set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947 .India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day .The Constitution of India was drafted over a period of 2 years, 11 months and 17 days. The members of Constituent Assembly of India met for the first time in the year 1946 on December 9. The next meeting of the Assembly took place on August 14th, 1947 for the dominion of India in which the proposal of forming various committees was presented. Such committees include Committee on Fundamental Rights, the Union Powers Committee and Union Constitution Committee. One of the unique factors of this meeting was that the Assembly gathered as the Sovereign Constituent Assembly of India
On 29th August, 1947 a Drafting Committee, with Dr. Ambedkar as the Chairman, was formed on the basis of the various reports submitted by the previous committees. It was in the year 1948 that a Draft Constitution including a range of proposals was formed by the concerned committee. The Constituent Assembly of India held two meetings in February 1948 and October 1949 to go through the clauses of the Draft. Finally,
the Indian Constitution was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950. The date 26 January was chosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj declaration of independence  of 1930. With its adoption, the Union of India officially became the modern and contemporary Republic of India and it replaced the Government of India Act 1935 as the country's fundamental governing document. The Constitution declares India to be sovereign , socialist , secular , democratic republic  , assuring its citizens of justice , equality ,and liberty that we enjoy .


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