When did India gain its independence?

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BOA

The Indian independence movement incorporated the efforts by Indians to liberate the region from British rule and form the nation-state of India. It involved a wide spectrum of Indian political organizations, philosophies, and rebellions between 1857 and India's emergence as a unified nation-state on August 15, 1947.

The initial Indian Rebellion of 1857 was sparked when soldiers serving in the British East India Company's British Army and Indian kingdoms rebelled against the British. After the revolt was crushed, the British partitioned the region into British India and the Princely States. They tried to develop a class of educated elites, whose political organizing sought Indian political rights and representation. However, increasing public disenchantment with the British authority — their curtailing of Indian civil liberties (such as the Rowlatt Act), political rights, and culture as well as their avoidance of basic issues facing common Indians and an essential nonacceptance of foreign occupation — led to an upsurge in revolutionary activities aimed at overthrowing the European colonial powers, particularly the British.

The movement came to a head between 1918 and 1922 when the first series of non-violent campaigns of civil disobedience were launched by the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mohandas Gandhi — whose methods were to a large extent inspired by the philosophy and methods of Baba Ram Singh, a Sikh who led the Kuka Movement in the Punjab in the 1870s. Gandhi's movement came to encompass people from across India and across all walks of life. These initial civil disobedience movements soon came to be the driving force that ultimately shaped the cultural, religious, and political unity of a diverse nation.

Committing itself to Purna Swaraj in 1930, the Congress led mass struggles between 1930 and 1932. By the late 1930s, however, with growing disenchantments over the delaying tactics of the Raj and the Congress's failure to extract commitment on self-rule and political independence, a faction within the movement turned towards more radical ideas of Subhash Chandra Bose. Bose's actions proved controversial among the Congress party but popular within the Indian populace, when Bose defeated Gandhi's candidate in leadership elections in the Tripuri Session of the Congress Working Committee. However, this was the parting of ways between the radicals and the conservatives. Bose left the Congress to found his own party during the war, seeking first Soviet and then Axis help to raise a liberation force. The raising of the Indian National Army in 1942 by Subhash Chandra Bose would see a unique military campaign to end British rule. Following the trial of Indian National Army officers at the Red Fort, mutinies broke out in the navy, in the Air Force, and in the army. The Congress also led a civil disobedience movement in 1942 demanding that the British leave India (a movement called the Quit India Movement). Following these and widespread communal rioting in Calcutta, the Raj ended on the mid-night of 15th August, 1947, but only at the expense of the partition of the country into India and Pakistan.

aswan k

August 15th 1947. Midnight.

yakir

15th August, 1947.

Pravin

15th Aug-1947..........was the first day when idia bacame inependent........

coolguy

India's Independence Day (Hindi: Swatantrata Divas) is celebrated on August 15 to commemorate its independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation on that day in 1947. The day is a national holiday in India. It is celebrated all over the country through flag-hoisting ceremony and distribution of sweets. The main celebration takes place in New Delhi, where the Prime Minister raises the national flag at the Red Fort and delivers a nationally televised speech from its ramparts. In his speech, he highlights the achievements of the government during the past year, raises important issues and gives a call for further development. Prime minister also pays tribute to leaders of the freedom struggle.

Road to independence
Main articles: History of Independent India, Political Integration of India, and Partition of India

Jawaharlal Nehru being sworn in as India's first Prime Minister by Lord Mountbatten on August 15, 1947
Jawaharlal Nehru's tryst with destiny speechOn 3 June 1947, Viscount Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into an India and Pakistan, under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947. At stroke of midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation. This was preceded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's famous speech titled Tryst with destiny.

“ 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. ”

Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel invited Lord Mountbatten to continue as Governor General of India. He was replaced in June 1948 by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Patel took on the responsibility of unifying 565 princely states, steering efforts by his “iron fist in a velvet glove” policies, exemplified by the use of military force to integrate Junagadh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Hyderabad state into India.

The Constituent Assembly completed the work of drafting the constitution on 26 November 1949; on 26 January 1950 the Republic of India was officially proclaimed. The Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India, taking over from Governor General Rajgopalachari. Subsequently, a free and sovereign India absorbed two other territories: Goa (liberated from Portuguese control in 1961) and Pondicherry (which the French ceded in 1954). In 1952, India held its first general elections, with a voter turnout exceeding 62%; in practice, this made India the world's largest democracy.

See also: Tryst with destiny

[edit] Celebrations

Prime Minister of India hoists the Indian flag on the ramparts of the this historial site, Red Fort, Delhi, On August 15th.15th August is a National holiday of India. In the capital New Delhi most of the Government Offices are lit up. Flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural programs take place in all the state capitals. In the cities around the country the Flag Hoisting Ceremony is done by politicians belonging to that constituency. In various private organisations the Flag Hoisting Ceremony is carried out by a Senior officer of that organisation. Schools and colleges around the country organise flag hoisting ceremony and various cultural activities within their respective premises. Families and friends get together for lunch or dinner, or for an outing. Housing colonies, cultural centres, clubs and societies hold entertainment programmes and competitions, usually based on the freedom theme.

[edit] Kite Flying
Throughout varying regions of India, there is a popular tradition of flying kites on the Independence Day. The sky is dotted with hundreds of colourful kites and people engage in kite-flying competitions. Balconies and roof-tops of houses are full of people flying kites and one can hear cheerful shouts of children in the evening as the kites soar in the sky. The most popular kite to fly is one shaped like an elephant, witch symbolizes peace.

[edit] Programmes On TV
Television Channels, especially the national network, Doordarshan provide a live coverage on the occasion and radio channels give the live commentary for the general masses. Various channels treat their audience with patriotic films and songs on this day. Cultural programmes featuring classical music and dance performances by various artists are organized at several places.

[edit] Independence day in literature
The magical moment of freedom was described by poet Pradeep in film Jagriti (1954):

मंजिल पे आया मुल्क हर बला को टाल के

सदियों के बाद फिर उड़े बादल गुलाल के

हम लाए हैं तूफ़ान से कश्ती निकाल के

इस देश को रखना मेरे बच्चों सम्भाल के

Translation:

The nation arrived at its destination, after surviving many calamities
and after several centuries, celebrated the freedom by throwing coloured powder
We (the older generation) have steered this ship during the terrible storms,
You, my children, keep this nation safe.
Literal Translation with Hindi Poetic License:

(The nation) reached its goal after surviving many calamities
At long last, centuries later, did fly clouds of colour
From within the storm we have brought out the rudder (of the sailing ship)
This nation, my children, you must preserve.

Rahul

15th August, 1947

The Laughing Buddha

2400 hrs on 14-08-1947 or

0000 hrs on 15-08-1947. Both are correct.

constant

On 15 th August , 1947

dreams_poss

all say its 15 August 1947.
But may be still we have not got our independence. We still run for all the materialistic things in western countries. People used to say wear khadi but is anyone seen wearing khadi today? is anyone happy with what he earns today? All are running for foreign things. I think that India should have been under the British rule for more 100 yrs to learn the discipline in life and devotion to work.

shivangini s

15th August, 1947 (precisely, midnight). It's actually few hours after Pakistan got its Independence. In a nutshell, The Indian Subcontinent became free from shackles of British colonialism by getting divided into smaller nations. The East Pakistan, a part of Pakistan that was on the east of India (with different culture and language also) became an Independent nation, Bangladesh in 1971.

rishabh v

India got Independence on 15th August,1947.

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