Happy Republic Day. Republic Day is the day when we remember and honour the day in which the Constitution of India came into force, i.e. on January 26 1950. Independence Day and Republic day are two prominent national celebrations. While the former has to do with the celebration of a free India, the latter has to do with the adaptation and coming into effect of our constitution.
India is a nation where festivity is very much part and parcel of its fabric. But the sad reality is that day-based-festivity is short lived. If we talk about campuses, Republic Days are marked by opportunities for students to exhibit their talents and thoughts in the form of art, music, drama, dance, exhibition and so on (leave alone whether they subscribe to them or not).
Some students prefer to stay at home and catch up on sleep. While others will be interested in festivity in its real sense. They will take the Tiranga (Indian tricolour) on their motorcycle and shout loud slogans. This festivity may also end up with alcohol consumption and fights at times.
All festivity vanishes in the air just the following day. The idea of the nation in the air, one’s whims and fancies rules daily activity. For the progress of our nation, we need to progress from one-day patriotism to having a patriotic attitude every day. Celebrations on Republic Day should not be mere lip service but a powerhouse for the implementation of the lessons learnt from and about the Constitution.
The Constitution of India talks about 11 fundamental duties of every Indian citizen. I would like to draw your attention to the 10th fundamental duty as per our constitution. If you would like to go through all the fundamental duties you can see it here. The 10th fundamental duty goes like this:
“to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.”
This point of our fundamental duty is very important for a student. I believe that improper shaping and moulding of students is one of the prominent reasons our nation is not progressing well.
I would like to showcase an obvious Indian scenario. There is a student who is very patriotic on Republic Day and shouts all sorts of patriotic slogans and reveres the Indian national flag and is on a full high of his celebration. But the very next day, he bunks his classes.
Finally, during exam time they will pressurize their teachers to somehow help them get minimum attendance and they pass the exam some way or other. The student was on the high of his patriotism but is he striving towards the excellence in all spheres? If this is what he is practices during his student days what kind of work culture and productivity can we expect from him? How will our nation rise to higher levels of endeavour and achievement?
It is high time we grow beyond one-day patriotism. I believe Independence day and Republic Day celebrations are very important. But the values remembered on that day should be implemented 24×7.
Why is it that our students do not study from the perspective of nation building? Why growingly a “chalta hai attitude” is driving our students and not a commitment to their studies?
An ancient scripture said “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Don’t you think a renewed mind and pure heart is important for our students “to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.” What can facilitate this?