10 Things You Didn’t Know About Republic Day

1. The Indian Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on 26^th November 1949 and it came into real effect on 26^th January 1950.
2. What does Republic mean? Republic refers to a state in which the supreme power lies in the hand of the subject or people and they elect a representative to run the state. It also refers to “no monarchy” and our constitution adopted a Democratic government.
3. One may ask why 26^th January was selected as the Republic Day? It is because it was on this date in the year 1930, Indian National Congress proclaimed a “Purna Swaraj” or Complete Freedom opposing the British Government.
4. Till the time, the Constitution was at the drafting table, the state was following the colonial Indian Government of India Act. Thus, the head of the state was an appointed Governor-General and not an elected President.
5. As the Constitution came into being, Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the 1^st President of India.
6. Do you know that the Indian Air Force was known as the “Royal Air Force”? On this day, this word “Royal” was dropped from the name and the new name was Indian Air Force.
7. The whole nation waits to watch the Republic Day Parade on Television on 26^th Several people have been the guest of honor for this Republic Day Parade. Do you know who the 1st guest of this Parade was? It was the then Indonesian President Sukarno in the year 1950 who graced this event.
8. The Constitution of India is the longest one in the world. The makers of the Indian Constitution copiously read all the Constitutions of all the independent nations from four corners of the world and incorporated all the good things here. For example, the 5-year plan was taken from the Constitution of USSR while the division of power between the Union & the State was taken from the Constitution of Canada.
9. 21 gun salutes follow the act of the President of India hoisting the National Flag on 26^th January.
10. This Republic Day celebration is a 3-day affair. It ends with “Beating the Retreat” – a military ceremony held on 29^th

Circulate these interesting facts about the Republic Day celebration among your friends and relatives.

Feel proud to be a citizen of the world’s largest democracy!