GUWAHATI, Aug 17 - The country�s 69th Independence Day was observed at Panjabari under the auspices of the Panjabari Senior Citizens� Association with the largest attendance ever in the last three decades.
The tricolour was unfurled by Kamruzzaman Ahmed who paid tributes to the martyrs and appealed to the people to salute the national flag braving the threats from unscrupulous elements and terrorists like the ULFA.
A programme of patriotic songs and poems was another highlight of the occasion.
Ranajit Sutradhar recited excerpts from works of illustrious poets from Assam and Bengal, while Jivan Chandra Goswami recited a patriotic poem. Women members of the Baghorbori Asomi Mahila Samiti under the leadership of Urmila Chakravarty and Dr Chandraprabha Bhuyan presented patriotic songs followed by an item by young artistes of Kala Sainik.
Senior journalist DN Chakravartty, in his speech, said that Indian independence did not mark the liberation of one billion persons alone but paved the way for the emergence one hundred subjugated countries around the world.
Roshni Bhawan, a charitable house, celebrated the Independence Day with the city�s street children at Fancy Bazar, Panbazar and Paltan Bazar railway station areas on Saturday. The occasion was marked by interaction with the street children besides distribution of fruits to them. The significance of Independence Day was also explained to the children, Regina Lalnunthar of the trust said.
Independence Day was also observed at the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) campus on Saturday with its Director Manoj Kumar Das unfurling the national flag.
Delivering his speech, Das greeted the faculty, staff and trainees of the institute and said that while India attained independence after a lot of sacrifice made by millions of people across the country, entrepreneurship played a major role in motivating the countrymen in the form of a massive Swadeshi movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation.
�It was Gandhiji�s dream that every family of the country became self-sufficient through the Swadeshi movement, one that laid the foundation for India�s economic development. While Swadeshi was a mantra of the freedom movement, entrepreneurship is the modern-day mantra for India�s self-reliance. At the IIE, we are dedicated towards creating a large number of entrepreneurs, particularly in the north-eastern region, and numerous training programmes have already produced many successful entrepreneurs,� Das said.
An art competition was also organized among the children at the IIE campus to mark the occasion.
