10 Facts Every Citizen Should Know About Indian Republic Day

On January 26, 1950, India was declared as ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic’. Every year on the same date, our Country celebrates its Republic Day.

Republic Day is one of the most important days for India and it means greatly to every Indian citizen. We all celebrate this occasion with big zeal and spunk. India is known for its saying ‘Unity in Diversity’. It indicates that India is a diverse country with people from different religions who are happily living together. So, dates like 26 January and 15 August are the National moments for Indian citizens and they celebrate these occasions together.

Every morning of Republic Day starts with an amazing parade at Rajpath, Delhi. It is the major day for India. The whole country celebrates it with parades, fireworks, etc. It always feels the pride to see our National Flag unfurling on this Historic Day.

Many people out there don’t know everything about Republic Day, either it’s the facts or history. So, we have decided to provide some acquainted and exciting facts about the 26^th January:

1. Every Indian citizen is aware of the parade organized on 26th January and held on Rajpath, New Delhi. But do they know earlier it was not organized here? From the year 1950 to 1954, the republic day parade used to hold at Irwin Stadium and ends at Ramleela Maidan respectively. Later in 1955, Rajpath or Kingsway became the permanent venue for Republic day parade.
2. You must know, PM and President of different nations are invited as a guest for the Republic day parades. At the first parade, which was held in 1950, President of Indonesia, Dr. Sukarno was invited as a guest. Conversely, in 1955, when the first parade was held at Rajpath, The General of Pakistan, Malik Ghulam Mohammad, was invited as a guest.
   
3. 26^th January parade event begins with the arrival of Indian current President.
   Here are some starting events of the parade:
   • The courageous bodyguards of the President salute our National Flag.
   • During this time, the National Anthem is played and 21 Guns Salute is given in honour to India. This firing is not done with 21 canons, instead, it is done with 7 cannons of our honorable army. These cannons are named as ’25-Ponders’ and used for firing in 3 rounds.
   • The most exciting fact is that the firing timing always matches with the time of the National Anthem and the last firing occurs right after 52 seconds. These cannons were made in 1941 and since then it is working perfectly.
     
4. Groups from various states and schools participate in the Parade. All of them get ready by 2 AM and reach the destination by 3 AM. Preparations for this big event begin in July of the previous month, where participants are required to formally inform about their performance. They practice for almost 600 hours and reach Delhi by December. This hard-core practice is required for such big events.
   
   
   
   
5. Even the smallest error in the parade will delay the parade by few minutes. This will cost heavily to the organizers. That is the reason, the whole republic day parade is pre-organized.
   
6. Do you know Army personnel also participate in the parade? It is not that simple. Every army personnel who is participating in the parade have to pass 4 levels of investigation. Also, their arms are checked so as to confirm that those are not loaded with any live bullets.
   
7. The whole parade move with the speed of 5km/hr, so that everyone can watch and absorb it. Amazingly, the drivers of various interesting vehicles drive it through a small window.
8. Have ever seen the participation of 41 Aircraft? The Flypast is the best part of the event. The whole event is done by the Western Airforce Command. It involves a total of 41 Aircraft, which involved in the parade, take-off from different centres of the Airforce and reach the Rajpath at a fixed time.
   
9. Every year, the song “Abide with me” is played on the parade event as it was the most favourite song of Mahatma Gandhi.
10. Every army personnel who participates in the parade March use indigenously made INSAS rifles. The personnel of some special Security Forces march with Tavor rifle of Israel.

Though we have completed the 10 facts about Republic day, there is one special addition for you:

According to RTI, the expenditure made on 26^th January parade has increased by 54.1% from 2001 to 2014. In 2001, the total expenditure of the parade was about 145 crores, and in 2014, it was about 320 crores.

Indian Republic Day is an important event of our history – a moment to celebrate the fact that we are equal to every nation. Let’s salute to our GRAND CONSTITUTION.

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