Celebrate Independence Day on August 15, not a day before: Govt to start public campaign

The government is planning a public campaign to encourage people to celebrate Independence Day on August 15 and not the day before, as is the practice in many educational institutions and organisations.

Officials in the ministry of tourism, one of the nodal ministries for the Centre's mega plans for marking 70 years of India's independence, said the idea for such a move arose after it was seen that in many places celebrations took place on August 14 since Independence Day was a national holiday.

The campaign, to be promoted through advertisements in newspapers and posters in public places, will be spearheaded by the ministry of information and broadcasting.

"Many schools and other institutions celebrate August 15 a day earlier and declare a holiday on Independence Day. We just want to request such organisations to refrain from doing so. It is the 70th year of our Independence Day and the entire country should celebrate together," a tourism ministry official said.

The final plans for the campaign would be chalked out in the coming week by a group of senior ministers, the official said.

Sources said the ministries had already been asked to plan their I-Day initiatives, which would be put to a committee of senior ministers for a review.

The committee, the sources said, would be formed after July 15 and was likely to be headed by Information and Broadcasting Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu.