About Independence Day
Indian Independence Day, on 15 August, marks the end of British colonial rule in 1947 after nearly 200 years, beginning with the East India Company's commercial control of Bengal in 1757 and the Crown's direct rule from 1858. The day is built around the speech Jawaharlal Nehru — India's first prime minister — delivered to the Constituent Assembly at midnight between 14 and 15 August 1947, the Tryst with Destiny: At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. Partition divided British India along religious lines into the dominions of India and Pakistan; the resulting mass migration of an estimated 15 million people and accompanying communal violence killed perhaps a million more. Independence Day is a public holiday throughout India and a national day of remembrance and resolve.
The day opens with the Prime Minister's address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Old Delhi, after the unfurling of the tricolour. The speech is broadcast live and is the longest-running political tradition in modern India. Across the country every government office, school and many private organisations hold a flag-hoisting ceremony with the national anthem Jana Gana Mana. Children receive sweets — laddoo, jalebi, barfi — and patriotic films play on television all day. The colours of the flag (saffron, white, green) appear on clothes, decorations and kite-flying contests, especially in Gujarat and Rajasthan where the skies fill with thousands of kites. Public buildings are lit up in tricolour at night. Independence Day is also one of the three national holidays — along with Republic Day (26 January) and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October) — when alcohol sales are banned across most of India.