Celebrating 67th Independence Day of India?
Things You Need to Know : Interesting Facts about Indian IndependenceFact 1: The parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Indian Independence Act 1947 which basically partitioned India (creating an independent India and Pakistan). This act was approved by England on July 18, 1947.
Fact 2: There were 562 princely states in India at the time of independence. 560 of these states joined India and the remaining two (Junagadh and Hyderabad) were annexed by the military.
Fact 3: After India’s independence from Britain, Portugal amended its constitution and declared Goa as a Portuguese state. Indian troops invaded Goa on December 19, 1961. The former USSR vetoed a resolution submitted by the United States of America and the United Kingdom condemning this invasion.
Fact 4: One of the founders of the Indian National Congress (one of the parties primarily responsible for India’s independence) was Allan Octavian Hume (a British citizen). He is also considered to be the “father of Indian Ornithology”. The other founding members are Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose and William Wedderburn.
Fact 5: A drafting committee was set up on 29th August, 1947 to draft the Indian constitution. The final version of the constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950 (Republic Day of India). During the emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1976, our constitution was amended and the word “socialist” added to the preamble to the constitution. Our founding fathers never intended India to be a socialist country.Fact 6: It is said that the first version of the current national flag was made by Pingali Venkayya at Bezwada in 1921. It was made up of two colours-red and green-representing the two major communities. Gandhiji suggested the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining communities of India and the spinning wheel to symbolise progress of the Nation.
Fact 7: When India became independent on August 15, 1947 there was no National Anthem. Even though the Bengali invocation of Jana Gana Mana was written in 1911, it was not considered as national anthem till 1950.
Fact 8: Controversy surrounding Jana Gana Mana claims that Rabindranath Tagore wrote the song ‘Jana Gana Mana’ for the British monarch. He later refuted this claim and said that he wrote the song as requested by his friend and the song pronounced the victory in ‘Jana Gana Mana’ of that Bhagya Vidhata of India and not of King George V.
Fact 9: Mountbatten chose the day since Aug 15 as it also commemorated the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces. North Korea, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo share their independence day with India.
Fact 10: Hindi is not India’s national language as many think or believe; it’s the official language. Article 343 of the Constitution states that Hindi in Devnagari script is the official language of India. But Hindi is the first official language of India and Hindi was declared the Official Language of the Union on September 14, 1949.
Fact 11: After India’s independence, Portugal amended its constitution and declared Goa as a Portuguese state. Indian troops invaded Goa on December 19, 1961 and annexed it to India.
Fact 12: The Sanskrit name for India is Bharat Ganarajya. That is the reason why it is also called Bharat. The name “India” comes from the Indus River, which is where earliest settlers made their homes. The Indus valley is one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations.
The National Anthem:
Live Webcast of 67th Independence of India: http://independenceday.nic.in/
Click and watch The Celebration Ceremony of 67th Independence Day of India on 15th August 2013
Flag Hoisting by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
Sources
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