Republic Day Trivia..... Lets see what we know about our Republic Day....and What we dont.... 1. In 1948, Dr BR Ambedkar completed the draft of the Constitution. In November 1949, this draft was adopted with very few amendments. 2. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November, 1949 and the honble members appended their signatures to it on 24 January, 1950. In all, 284 members signed the Constitution. 3. On that day when the Constitution was being signed, it was drizzling outside and it was interpreted as a sign of a good omen. 4. On Republic Day, several bravery awards like Veer Chakra, Maha Veer Chakra, Param Veer Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Ashoka Chakra are awarded. 5. As the President unfurls the National Flag, he is given the 21 guns salute. It is the firing of arms and canons by Naval and army men to pay respect to the soldiers who fought for Indias independence. 6. The date of 26th January was chosen as Republic Day because it coincided with the anniversary of Purna Swaraj Day (January 26, 1930). 7. The National Flag of India was designed by Pingali Venkaiah and was adopted on the 22 July, 1947, a few days before Indias independence from the British. 8. A postal stamp released in memory of Pingali Venkayya 9. The Flag Code of India allows people to put up the National Flag on their premises. This wasnt possible for many years after Independence. 10. Republic Day is a three-day long celebration, accompanied by performances and drill. The Beating the Retreat ceremony is held at the end to mark the end of Republic Day. 11. The three-day long celebration also includes decoration of important government buildings with lights. 12. With the sound of buglers exactly at 6pm, the National Flag is lowered, and the National Anthem is sung. This concludes the Republic Day celebrations. 13. With 395 Articles and eight Schedules, the Indian Constitution is the largest written Constitution in the world. 14. The Constitution of India was passed by the Constituent Assembly of India on November 26, 1949, but came into effect on January 26, 1950. 15. The Constituent Assembly met for 166 days, spread over a period of two years, 11 months and 18 days. Its sessions were open to the press and the public. 16. Dr Sachchidananda Sinha was the first President (temporary chairman) of the Constituent Assembly, when it met on December 9, 1946. Dr Rajendra Prasad then became the president of the Constituent Assembly, and later became the first President of India. 17. The words Socialist and Secular were added to the Preamble of the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. 18. The first national flag in India is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) in Calcutta, now Kolkata. The flag composed of three horizontal strips of red, yellow and green. 19. On 26th January 2002, the Indian flag code was modified and after several years of Independence, Indians were allowed to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day and not just National Days as was the case earlier. 20. Just as Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also from Gujarat. 21. January 26 was originally the choice of Mahatma Gandhi for Independence but the British were in a hurry to leave fearing communal violence following partition, and so handed over the keys on August 15 and ran for their life. 22. The reason for choosing January 26 was that since 1930 Congress had been observing a silent Independence Day on that date. Since independence came early, the date received Republic Day honours. 23. The British left India in a bigger chaos than when it was taken over by them. They expected India to request them to stay on in government service for some more time, but that didnt happen. India managed successfully on its own. 24. There was insufficient deployment of security forces at the time of riots because most of them were used for the security of the British. 25. A total of 554 princely states were dissolved and united with Indian Union by Sardar Patel and his assistant VP Menon, who played a significant role in persuading them. 26. The state of Travancore didnt want to join the Indian Union. It demanded independence for itself. 27. Hyderabad Nizam wanted to join Pakistan and joined India after a year only when India sent troops to capture Hyderabad. 28. While Andhra Pradesh liked Madras to be part of them and made a demand, the citizens Committee of Bombay, including JRD Tata liked Bombay to be a city-state and not part of Maharashtra, particularly as its capital. 29. Jammu & Kashmir didnt join the Union on August 15. The Maharaja wanted it to be independent and wanted J&K to be known as the Switzerland of the East. 30. The refugees from Pakistan were accommodated at Kurukshetra and were shown Hollywood movies to make them forget the harsh realities of refugee life albeit for a couple of hours a day. 31. Telengana was the forerunner for communist rule in India, by organizing farmer agitations. 32. Sukumar Sen was a civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner who successfully conducted the first general elections in 1952. 33. The first temple reconstruction was that of Somnath Temple in 1951, which was repeatedly razed by the Mughals in the past. 34. In the first general elections, although, Congress came to power, it polled only 45% of the votes. One of the notable defeats was that of Dr BR Ambedkar, the chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. (Source: TOI) 35. In 2015, American President Barack Obama was the chief gues for the Republic Day celebration. He was the first American president to visit India twice and his wife Michelle Obama became the First Lady. (SKS) 36. On January 25th 2015, Wing commander Pooja Thakur was the first lady officer to head the guard of honor to Barack Obama in Indian History. (SKS)
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:57:53 +0000
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