Independence Day – “India discovers herself again.”

Today is Independence Day for India – celebrated every year on 15 August. This freedom came in 1947 but had to be fought for with many great “freedom fighters” showing the way. Britain did not want to let go of this nation which had been a massive source of income for many years.

Because of that struggle, for all Indians Independence Day is a day to remember the people who fought the Britishers and gave up their lives to free the country from a foreign ruler – it is the day to “pledge and to protect the unity and integrity of our country.”

Independence Day is a national holiday and is celebrated with much fervour across the nation. Parades are held in all state capitals and district headquarters to celebrate Independence Day. Indians across the country also hoist the tricolour to mark the day. Many also fly kites, sing patriotic songs and exchange sweets to celebrate Independence Day.

On the eve of Independence Day, the President addresses the nation in a televised speech. On Independence Day, the Prime Minister greets the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi.

Independence was proclaimed in 1947 by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who declared: “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.”

Well done India – and a very Happy Independence Day!

Author: Stephen Manallack

Former President, Australia India Business Council, Victoria and Author, You Can Communicate; Riding the Elephant; Soft Skills for a Flat World (published by Tata McGraw-Hill INDIA); Communicating Your Personal Brand. Director, EastWest Academy Pty Ltd and Trainer/Speaker/Mentor in Leadership, Communication and Cross Cultural Communication. Passionate campaigner for closer western relations with India. Stephen Manallack is a specialist on “Doing Business with India” and advisor/trainer on “Cross-Cultural Understanding”. He is a Director of EastWest Academy Pty Ltd which provides strategic advice and counsel regarding business relations with India. A regular speaker in India on leadership and global communication, his most recent speaking tour included a speech to students of the elite Indian university, Amity University, in Noida. He also spoke at a major Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) global summit, the PR Consultants Association of India in Delhi, the Symbiosis University in Pune and Cross-Cultural Training for Sundaram Business Services in Chennai. He has visited India on business missions on 10 occasions and led three major trade missions there. He provides cross-cultural training – Asia and the west. View all posts by Stephen Manallack