 "Independence Day")
Indians across the world on Monday enthusiastically celebrated the 75th anniversary of India's Independence by hoisting the tricolour and singing the national anthem and patriotic songs at the country's missions.
India's Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat hoisted the tricolour at the Indian Embassy. A large number of Beijing-based Indian diaspora attended the colourful event.
After the flag hoisting, Rawat read out President Droupadi Murmu's address to the nation.
Later, members of the Indian diaspora presented cultural programmes.
In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Indian Consulate General Shambhu Hakki who is also a musician by passion released his latest song Sabse Pyara Desh Mera, a musical tribute to India on its 76th Independence Day.
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In Singapore, a 16-member band from the patrol vessel INS Saryu played patriotic songs at the Indian High Commission in the country as part of the Indian Navy's initiative to celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav across six continents.
INS Saryu, with a crew of 160, is on a visit to Singapore to hoist the tiranga (tricolour), the High Commission said on Monday.
More than 800 Indians joined High Commissioner P Kumaran in celebrating National Day at the Grange Road High Commission complex.
Students from Indian schools danced to tunes of patriotic songs
It was the first in-person post-Covid celebration that overwhelmed the chancery.
Contingents from all three services of the Indian Armed Forces participated for the first time in the flag hoisting at the Indian High Commission.
In Nepal, the 76th Independence Day celebrations began with the hoisting of the national flag by Counsellor Shri Prasanna Shrivastava. This was followed by the reading of the address to the nation from President Murmu.
The embassy felicitated widows and next of kin of deceased Gorkha soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces by disbursing their dues worth NPR 2.65 crore.
The mission also awarded the winners of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Quiz organised by the Ministry of External Affairs to motivate overseas Indian youth and foreign nationals to enhance their knowledge about India.
The celebrations witnessed renditions of patriotic songs and performances by teachers and students of Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre of the Embassy and Kendriya Vidyalaya School, Kathmandu.
In Herzliya, Tel Aviv, India's Ambassador to Israel, Sanjeev Singla, unfurled the tricolor to celebrate 75th Independence Day in the presence of about 300 people from the Indian community, emphasising on efforts to deepen" the strategic relationship between the two nations.
People from the Indian Jewish community, Indian students and NRIs turned up from all over Israel to celebrate Independence Day despite it being a working day.
After reading out the message of President Murmu, the Indian envoy in his address to the Indian community said that with your help, we continue to deepen our strategic relationship with Israel.
Highlighting some of the important interactions between the two countries over the past year, Singla mentioned the participation of the Prime Ministers of the two countries in the first virtual summit of I2U2, referring to the new four-nation grouping comprising India, India, the US and the UAE.
He also mentioned the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with then Israeli Premier Naftali Bennett in November in Glasgow to discuss deepening of our relationship in bilateral innovation partnership in emerging technologies, the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar last October, the visit of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar this year and the visit of Israeli Defence minister Benny Gantz to India.
The Indian envoy stressed the growing trade between the two countries as the high point of deepening ties.
We continue to deepen our economic and trade partnership with Israel. India is now Israel's second-largest trading partner in Asia. I am glad to mention that the bilateral merchandise trade has crossed 7.5 billion dollars during the last fiscal year which is a new high point," he said.
He also touched upon Adani's winning of the tender for privatising the Haifa port with an Israeli partner and the involvement of other companies on both sides as part of the primary thrust to deepen innovation linkages. While Israel is the original start-up nation, India presents the largest start-up ecosystem, he noted.
Owing to this thrust, the embassy has successfully worked for a work visa for students, Singla highlighted.
Acknowledging the strong role of the Indian community in deepening ties, he said, We remain focused on people-to-people relations which forms the bedrock of greater and deeper organic ties for the future.
He highlighted the efforts in both the countries to bring to light age-old ties and also the activities of the Indian Cultural Centre in Israel to connect to local people and the Indian community.
The municipality of Ashdod organised a musical evening inviting popular singers Vinod Seshadri and Swati Choudhary on Sunday evening as a tribute to India's 76th Independence Day and on the "occasion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.
We are happy that the Municipality of Ashdod through the Municipal Society for Culture and Leisure decided to hold the function in Ashdod for the general public and the Indian community, an Indian community leader, Ricky Shay, told PTI.
The festival is a tribute to the Indian legends Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar, she said.
Local dance group, Namaste, also performed at the event attended by about 850 people.
In the US city of Boston, a 220-feet US-India flag flying high in the sky attracted everyone's attention during the first-ever India Day Parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's independence.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
