When the clock touched 12, date moved to 15th, the month was august and year 1947...a loud shout came and got registered in history. It brought an overwhelming chill of being free within each Indian. Yes, we were FREE from British raj. The Independence Day, celebrated on 15th August commemorates India's Independence from 150 years British Rule and its birth as a sovereign nation. In 1946, the Labour government in Britain, exhausted by the recently concluded World War II decided to end British rule in India. The empire had realized that it had neither the mandate at home, the international support, nor the reliability of native forces, that led to this decision. In February 1947, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee, ordered the British government to grant full self-governance to British India by June 1948 at the latest. With the British army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, the new viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, advanced the date for the transfer of power, allowing less than seven months for a mutually agreed plan for independence. On 3 June 1947, Viscount Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into a secular India and a Muslim Pakistan. Viceroy Mountbatten chose 15 August as the date of power transfer; he chose this date as this was the second anniversary of Japan's surrender in the World War II. The Indian Independence Act 1947 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan with effect from 15 August 1947, and granted complete legislative authority upon the respective constituent assemblies of the two countries. The Act received the royal assent on 18 July 1947. Millions of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu refugees trekked across the newly drawn borders. In Punjab, where the new border lines divided the Sikh regions in halves, massive bloodshed followed; in Bengal and Bihar, where Mahatma Gandhi's presence assuaged communal tempers, the violence was mitigated. In all about a million people on both sides of the new borders died in the violence. On 14 August 1947, Pakistan is declared as a separate nation. At midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation, and Jawaharlal Nehru delivered the 'Tryst with destiny' speech proclaiming India's independence. "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. 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. It is fitting that at this solemn moment, we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity." India became free that day, and its been 66 years since. A day that fills our heart with patriotism and love for our country. Lets keep this love and faith alive for our nation for an indefinite time, and celebrate its freedom every day. Lets ensure it doesn't go into the hands of corrupt, it doesn't perish by the act of evil, and instead flourishes with each passing day.

• published: 15 Aug 2012
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