“We believe in peace and peaceful development, not only for ourselves but for people all over the world.” - Lal Bahadur Shastri

India freed itself from centuries of colonial British rule in August of 1947. India began work on a new governing document for the expansive nation, and it was adopted in November 1949. The date, January 26 th , 1950 is a defining moment in Indian and world history. Krishna Menon, India's high commissioner in London, signs the Oath of Allegiance to a new constitution at a ceremony at India House. This signing marked India's new status as a republic. And ever since, India has celebrated Republic Day on January 26.

Being a country with diverse landscapes and cultures, India was not expected to get developed by the British when they declared Independence. However, now if we check about the development of India, it is one of the countries with rapid development. India has sustained rapid growth of GDP for most of the last two decades leading to rising per capita incomes and a reduction in absolute poverty. India has followed a different path of development from many other countries. India went more quickly from agriculture to services that tend to be less securely controlled than heavy industry, making few manufacturing giants in Indian Economy. It is the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third-largest by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Even scientifically India is growing. India is among the topmost countries in the world in the field of scientific research, positioned as one of the top five nations in the field of space exploration. With research organizations like the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India is pushing the boundaries in the field of space research. ISRO challenged space research with magnificent missions. ISRO sent a lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, on 22 October 2008, which helped in the discovery of lunar water in the form of ice. The Mars Orbiter Mission launched on 5 November 2013, entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt to Mars. ISRO also launched 20 satellites in one vehicle on 18th June 2016. ISRO made a world record on 15 th February 2017, by launching 104 satellites in

one go in the rocket PSLV-C37. ISRO so far has carried out 97 spacecraft missions, 69 launch missions. With women scientists behind their extravagant missions, it also broke the stereotype that space research is a male field. India has increased its output of scientific papers fourfold between 2000 and 2015 overtaking Russia and France in an absolute number of papers per year.

India’s education system is one of the topmost leading education systems in the world. Having IIT institutes in 23 places all over India, India produces one of the finest IT graduates. Kiran Bedi, the first female Indian Police Service Officer is an IIT graduate. Silicon Valley, a hub of the top leading companies in the world is overly dependent on 70 % of foreign tech workers in IT occupation and out of them more than 40% is Indians. Not only does India have IIT institutes, but India also has elite Management and Medical Institutes. Indian Institute of Management has 20 branches all through India. Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PEPSI is an IIM of Calcutta graduate. All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is yet another remarkable and leading medical institute in India. AIIMS produces one of the best doctors in the world working in different parts of the world. Their alumni include worldwide famous personalities like Deepak Chopra, Roman Saini who is the founder of the education initiative “UNACADEMY”.

And yes, most of the Global Companies are headed by Indian talents like

1. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

2. Shantanu Narayan, CEO of Adobe

3. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

4. Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard

5. Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia

And the list goes on. This shows how strong the Indian Education system is, on the positive light.

The Civil Service System is the administrative backbone of the country. All India Services of Government of India has three branches and they are Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Forest Services (IFoS). IAS is a part of the executive of the Indian Government. An IAS officer is responsible for maintenance of law and order, revenue administration and general administration in the area under him/her. In the year 1948, a year after India’s Independence, IPS substituted the Imperial Police. IPS officers in India work as senior police officers. IPS officers maintain public peace and order, prevent crime, investigate, collect intelligence, provide security to VIPs, and tackle terrorism and a range of other crimes. Whereas, IFoS was set up by India under the “All India Services Act, 1951” in the year 1966. IFoS’s main aim is the implementation of the National Forest Policy which ensures the ecological balance in the country.

Well, what about our military system? Indian Armed Forces rank the 4 th position out of 25 countries. Indian Armed Forces, the military force of our country India is divided into 3; Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air force. Indian Armed Forces are also supported by paramilitary forces. Our Indian Army is the world’s largest volunteer army and in addition to that is the 2 nd largest military force in the world. Moreover, it has the 4 th biggest defence budget in the world.

So guess what, the world’s best human resource is found in India. India is the youngest country midst the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). It is assessed that by 2020 the working-age population in India would be about 592 million, second to that of China's (776 million). India being the fastest-growing economy is home to a fifth of the world’s youth. Half of India’s 1.3 billion population is under the age of 25 and a quarter of the population below 14 years of age. The World Economic Forum and the Observer Research Foundation collaboratively conducted a survey of more than 5,000 youth in India and the results are really positive. The survey shows that Indian youth are more independent and ambitious. It also showed that Young Indians are very much interested in pursuing higher education and skills development.

The future of India is in the hands of the present youth. So this Republic Day, let us commit

ourselves to work in favour of the development of our pride, our country, Bharat. Are you ready?