The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav initiative has united India in more ways than one. The Prime Minister envisioned it as a movement for the people and by the people and has encouraged citizens fromall walks of life to participate and further the vision of a powerful, self-reliant India. Following his lead, many citizen groups have come together, across India, even from beyond borders, to celebrate India’s 75 th year of independence as it grows into one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Not just citizens, myriad ministries, government departments, agencies, municipal offices, corporations, village panchayats and leaders at all levels have come together to commemorate India’s 75 th year of Independence with the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said we have proved ourselves with our hard work, both in India and abroad. We are proud of our Constitution and democratic traditions. India is the mother of democracy and is still moving ahead by strengthening democracy.
The nation’s biggest achievement has been uniting the citizens for nation development; leading by example to resolve issues affecting the world; and giving hope to humanity especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. India’s journey and evolution is founded on Aatmanirbharta or self- reliance and has been providing momentum to that of the world as well.
Postal commemoration
The Department of Posts under the Government of India Ministry of Communications observed National Postal Week with the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav undertone. India Post is a government- operated postal system in India, under the Department of Posts.
Warren Hastings, under the East India Company started the Postal Service in British India in 1766 that was established under the name ‘Company Mail’. Later, it was changed to a service in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie who introduced uniform postage rates and helped pass the India Post Office Act 1854.
For more than 150 years, the Department of Posts(DoP) has been the backbone of the country’s communication and has played a crucial role in the country’s social economic development. It has touched the lives of Indian citizens in many ways – delivering mails, accepting deposits for small savings, providing life insurance cover, rural insurance, affordable retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc.’
The DoP also acts as an agent for the Government of India for disseminating other citizen-based services such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments. India Post has more than 1,55,000 post offices across the country and has the most widely distributed postal network in the world.
Spreading awareness for nation development
In October 2021, as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan released a special cover on Muga Silk (GI Tag) with Assam Postal Circle. India Post celebrated Banking Day as part of the Mahotsav where five SSA pass books were handed over to girl child accompanied by their parents.
The Department has played a significant role in the promotion of Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Accounts (SSA) under the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyaan’ for empowerment of girl children. So far, more than 2.2 Cr SSA accounts have been opened in post offices since the scheme was launched in January 2015.
This year, DoP is also celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by organising Financial Inclusion Melas in all districts to create financial awareness and promote financial inclusion. The Department of Posts along with the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, is holding the ‘75 Lakh Post Card Campaign’ from 1 December 2021 to 20 December 2021.
The campaign is open for all students of class IV to XII of all schools affiliated to CBSE as well as various state and UT education boards, set up in India and abroad. Here, 75 post cards having the best ideas will be selected by CBSE HQ at an AllIndia level for a National-Level participation in the final event to be held on 17 January 2022.
India’s biggest strength, its people
Continuing celebrations for the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, in August 2021, principals and heads of schools in Margao in Goa were felicitated at an event held at the three-day photo exhibition on Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The exhibition was being conducted by the Field Outreach Bureau – Goa, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. During the Covid-19 crisis, schools were very helpful to the government in COVID management as they doubled-up as vaccination centres.
In another event, the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) held a webinar where a series of 12 episodes was launched that will took the participants on a virtual journey of Incredible India. Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said, “This is our moral responsibility to educate our youth about our glorious past and at the same time prepare them for the path of global leadership.”
Mechanical cleaning of sewers and septic tanks has started under ‘Safai Mitra Suraksha Challenge’
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and the Development of North-eastern Region (DoNER) G. Kishan Reddy urged students to take out at least 75 hours in the next one year and involve themselves in nation building. He said, “This can be participating in Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan in your native villages or involving in a campaign with your village sarpanch or mayor or local representative to hoist the national flag”. He also suggested students to take out time for other activities such as ‘planting trees to increase the green cover, teaching at an orphanage, volunteering at an old age home, helping in the uptake of digitization and digitally empowering the poor’.
Minister Reddy reiterated that PM Modi’s call for Azadi Ka Amrit Mahostav is a golden opportunity to develop a common vision for India at its 100th year of independence. “Prime Minister rightly said that the Mahotsav is not just about the last 75 years of Independence, but a movement to develop a common vision for the next 25 years. We need to ensure that the road to 2047 is marked by progress and prosperity. And to achieve this, I urge the youth to become the torchbearers and architects of India@100 as a Vishwa guru”, he added.
Swachh Amrit Mahotsav
In November 2021, India’s President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Swachh Amrit Mahotsav and presented the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2021 – organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The President noted that Safai Mitras and sanitation workers have continuously rendered their services even when the rest of India stopped during the Covid pandemic. The government is committed to ensure that lives of sanitation workers are not risked due to unsafe cleaning practices.
An initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the ‘Safai Mitra Suraksha Challenge’ has been started in 246 cities across India with the aim to promote mechanical cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. The President advised ‘to extend this mechanical cleaning facility in all the cities’. He said that manual scavenging is a shameful practice and the eradication of this practice is not only the responsibility of the government but also of the society and citizens.