Republic Day - January 26th

India has two days of national patriotism - Independence Day (August 15th) and Republic Day (January 26th).

Republic Day is the day India's constitution came into force.

This January 26, 2017, India celebrated its 68th Republic Day!

SOME HISTORY:

After India gained Independence from the British in 1947, the constitution was drafted by the drafting committee at the national assembly on November 4, 1947. The final version of the constitution in both English and Hindi was signed by the national assembly on January 24, 1950, and the constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950.

Since then, January 26th has been celebrated as Republic Day, a day that marked India's full transition into an independent republic.

CELEBRATIONS:

On this day, many military parades are held in Delhi. It's a national holiday so schools, colleges and offices are not operating that day. Older school children are typically asked to compulsorily go to school in the morning to witness the flag hoisting and salute the Indian flag. Then they may go home.

Military parades, displays of military equipment and the Indian tricolor flag are all important symbols on this day.

View the full 68th Republic Day celebrations:

This year, the chief guest for India's Republic Day parade was the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In celebration of India's 68th Republic Day the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, the tallest building in the world, was lit up in colors of the Indian flag! #INDIA-UAE ties!

THE INDIAN FLAG:

The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolor with saffron on top, white in the middle, and dark green on the bottom. In the center of the flag is a blue Ashoka chakra with 24 spokes. The flag is to be made of khadi material and the width to length dimensions of the flag are to be a 2:3 ratio.

Saffron is a symbol of courage and sacrifice.

White  is a symbol of honesty, peace, and purity.

Green is a symbol of faith, chivalry, prosperity, vibrancy and life.

The Ashoka Chakra or the Dharma Chakra (wheel of law) with 24 spokes appears on a number of the edicts of Ashoka.

For more on the flag and its history, read this.

ALSO, if you are on Facebook, go like the official page for my own new radio show called Desi Tunes! It's a radio show dedicated to playing Indian music of all genres, from all eras, in all Indian languages. You can suggest music too by messaging or posting to the show's Facebook page (I highly encourage it)! Be sure to tune in on Mondays 2-3pm MST on Blaze Radio 1330 AM for this show! You can tune in from across America and probably in other parts of the world too! Eventually I will try to do Facebook lives and/or upload a full audio recording of the show onto the page so those of you in different time zones can listen! What are you waiting for? Go follow us and like our page!