Every year on August 15, India celebrates Independence Day. This year marks the 75 years of independence from British rule. The Indian government will organise a special event called ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to honour freedom fighters. The event’s programmes will also honour the nation’s history, culture, and achievements as a whole.
On eve of Independence day, some lesser-known facts about it:
• India did not have a national anthem at the time of its independence. Though Rabindranath Tagore composed ‘Jana Gana Mana’ in 1911, it was officially adopted as the National Anthem on January 24, 1950.
• Mahatma Gandhi did not participate in Indian Independence Day celebrations in Delhi. He was on hunger strike in Kolkata, trying to put a stop to the bloodshed brought on by partition.
• Mountbatten had been given a mandate by the British parliament to transfer the power by June 30, 1948. He advanced it to 15th August, 1947 because it honored the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the allied forces.
• Hindi was adopted as the official language of the Union of on 14th September 1949. In 1950, the constitution of India declared Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of India.
• The Independence Bill gave August 15 as the date of Independence for India and Pakistan. Mountbatten chose august 14 as the date of the ceremony of power transfer to Pakistan because he wanted to attend the ceremonies in both the countries. Perhaps because of this, Pakistan started celebrating its independence day on august 14.
• The first unofficial flag of India was hoisted on August 7, 1906 at Parsee Bagan Square in Culcutta (now Kolkata). It comprised three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green, with Vande Mataram written in the middle.
• India’s national song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and was part of his novel Anandamath (1882). On January 24, 1950, it was adopted as India’s national song.
