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Why Indians celebrate Republic Day on Jan 26

On August 15, 1947, India was declared a constitutional monarchy with George VI as head of the state and Mountbatten as Governor-General.

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Republic Day Celebrations in 1956
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A few years ago, when youngsters were asked if they knew what ‘Tryst with Destiny’ was about, some of them actually asked if that was the name of Beyonce’s band. They confused Nehru’s historic speech at midnight with Beyonce Knowles' former band Destiny’s Child, which speaks volumes about how little modern-day denizens know about our historic past.

While August 15 is celebrated as Independence Day, January 26 is Republic Day which celebrates the enactment of the Indian Constitution. So if we were to explain it simply August 15, 1947, was the day the British left us, while Jan 26, 1950, was the day that we properly defined the State of India and the laws that would govern us. The reason January 26 was chosen was because in 1930 this was the day the Indian National Congress declared complete independence or purna swaraj.

(Read: Here's what President Mukherjee said on Republic Day)

On August 15, 1947, India was declared a constitutional monarchy with George VI as head of the state and Mountbatten as Governor-General. The laws were based on the Government of India Act 1937.

On August 28, 1947, a committee was appointed to draft a permanent constitution. Dr. BR Ambedkar was the Chairman of this committee. The Assembly would meet for 166 days, spread over the next three years and submitted a draft to the Assembly on November 4, 1947. This committee consisted of KM Munshi, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, N Gopalaswami Ayengar, BL Mitter, Md. Saadullah and DP Khaitan. They were helped by constitutional advisor Sir Benegal Narsing Rau.

Mitter later resigned and was replaced by Madhav Rao, while DP Khaitan passed away and was replaced by TT Krishnamachari. After much deliberation, 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document in English and Hindi on January 24, 1950, and it came into effect from Jan 26.

The main celebration is held in New Delhi at Rajpath while there are other events throughout the country.

(Read: 10 best SMSes to wish Happy Republic Day)

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