Republic-Day 2023: Here’s Why Republic Day Is Celebrated On January 26, History and Significance.

India is celebrating its 74th Republic-Day this year. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the chief guest of the parade to be held on 26 January. He arrived in India on Wednesday and said it was “a great privilege to be the guest of honor and to participate in India’s glorious National Day”.

The parade includes a spectacular military and cultural spectacle every year on the Kartavya Path  that showcases India’s military might. Republic Day 2023 will witness the first ever march of women riders on camel contingents of the Border Security Force (BSF).

History of Republic-Day:

The Constituent Assembly was the body meant to draft the Constitution of India. It held its first session on December 9, 1946, attended by 207 members, including nine women. Initially, the assembly had 389 members, however after independence and the partition of India, on August 15, 1947, the strength was reduced to 299.

The Drafting Committee led by Dr BR Ambedkar was one among the over 17 committees of the Constituent Assembly. The Drafting Committee’s task was to prepare a Draft Constitution for India. The committee got rid of about 2,400 amendments while debating and deliberating the constitution, out of nearly 7,600 amendments tabled.

The last session of the Constituent Assembly ended on November 26, 1949, and that is when the Constitution was adopted. However, it was only two months later on January 26, 1950 that it came into effect following the signatures of the 284 members who signed it.

Significance of Republic Day:

26 January was fixed as the Republic Day of India as it was the day when the Indian National Congress (INC) announced the Declaration of Indian Independence in 1930. The date was chosen since the Congress’s Purna Swaraj resolution was announced on this day.

The resolution also marked the beginning of a large-scale nationwide political movement against colonial rule.

Republic Day 2023 at a Glance

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Wednesday said that the electronic Supreme Court Reports (e-SCR) project will now start providing its judgements in various Indian scheduled languages from Republic Day. There are of 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. They include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.

Also Read: The Most Beautiful College Campuses In India