Major Festivals in India

India is often described as a land of many religions and languages, but it might as well be described as a land of festivals. Some festivals observed throughout the country: others have  specific regional associations. People belongs to different religions celebrate different festivals. However, some festivals have pan-religious and are celebrated by all the sectors in the India. Each festival in each region has its own particular foods and sweets appropriate to the season and crops and days are spent in their careful preparation.

National Holidays of India:

1. Republic Day: This is celebrated on 26th January. On this day India become republic.
2. Independence Day: This celebrated on 15th August, as India gained independence from British Rule on this day in 1947.
3. Gandhi Jayanti: This is celebrated on 2nd October which is father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.

10 major festivals of India:

1. Baisakhi: Baisakhi or Vaisakhi is celebrated by sikhs and some sectors of Hindus too. This harvest festival is celebrated especially in Punjab region by the Sikh community. For Sikhs, this festival celebrates for the new harvest and also the birth of Khalsa. Baisakhi is generally celebrated either on 13th or 14th April. People usually go to Amritsar to visit The Golden Temple. The folk dance of 'Bhangara' is also performed of the people as a marker of their joy and happiness.
2. Christmas: Christmas, is the annual celebration is a fest central to the Christian liturgical year. This is celebrated by all over the world by Christmas on 25th December. Family re-unions and the exchange of gifts are the stock features of the festival. Christmas carols, cards and Santa Claus are some of the popular derivatives of the festival that have developed across the globe and have a crucial part of Christmas celebrations.
3. Diwali: Diwali is also termed as the Dipawali, is widely celebrated and most famous festival of the Indian festival. The festival is first said to have been celebrated by the people of Ayodhya when Lord Rama back from exile with wife and brother after fourteen long years. The festival was celebrated by lighting little clay lapms and the whole city of Ayodhya was decorated for welcoming the mighty king. Literal meaning of Diwali is row of lights. In the evening, after offering prayers to God Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi, people lit their house with vibrant colors and candles thus creating a striking view. According to Hindu lunar calendar, festival takes place on the moonless night of dark half of Kartik. Highlight of the festival is the firework carried out all across the country.
4. Eid: Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and is a three-day Muslim celebration. Ramadan is the Islamic holy month of fasting during which followers of Muslim religion observe a strict fast from dawn-to-sunset. It is believed that the Koran was reveled to Prophet Mohammed in the month of Ramazan. Eid-ul-Fitr is thus celebrated with great enthusiasm.
5. Ganesh Chaturthi: The spectacular eleven day of Ganesh Chaturthi festival honors the birth of the beloved Hindu god, Lord Ganesha. The start of the festival sees huge, elaborately crafted status of Ganesha installs in homes and podiums, which have been especially constructed through the streets, accompanied by much singing and dancing and then submerged in the ocean.
6. Holi: Holi is two day festival that also celebrates the victory of good over evil, as well as abundance of the spring harvest season. It's commonly referred to as the "Festival of colors". People exuberantly throw colored powder and water all over each other, have parties and dance under water sprinkles. A paste made from cannabis plants (Bhang) is also traditionally consumed during the celebrations. Holy is a very carefree festival that's great fun to participate in if you don't mind getting wet and dirty.
7. Karva Chauth: Another important Indian festival that celebrates the most beautiful relation on earth of that of a husband and wife is Karva Chauth. To ensure the well-being, wealth and long life of their husbands married women observes a very difficult fast on this occasion. They neither eat food nor drink water the whole day. They get dressed up like newly wedded brides and decorating hands and feet by creating intricate designs with henna is one of the most common traditions largely follow on this occasion.
8. Navaratri, Dussehra and Durga Puja: The first nine days of this festival is known as Navaratri and are filled with dance in honor of the Mother Goddess. The tenth day called Dussehra is devoted to celebrating the defat of the demon king Ravana by Lord Rama. It also coincides with the victory of the revered warrior Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Last day of the celebrations come to an end by immersing the idols in the nearby water channels on the evening of Dashami as it is believed that goddess to her abode on this day.
9. Onam: Onam is the festival which is celebrated by the people of Kerala in South India. It is celebrated as the homecoming of the mythical king Mahabali. People wear new traditional dresses and eat the traditional food of rice poured on banana leaves along with four different types of dishes. They celebrates this occasion by decorating a pyramid of beautiful flowers and pray for their good health and wealth. On this day people of Kerala also participate in an enormous boat riding competition.
10. Raksha Bandhan: A festival celebrated to bring out the love and affection between brothers and sisters, Raksha Bandhan is celebrated mostly in India. On this day, sisters pray for long life of their brothers and God to bless them with his blessings. As a symbol of their love and care for their brothers the sisters tie Rakhi or Scared threat of protection on their brothers wrists. Brothers, in turn give them enticing rakhi gifts and promise to care for them till the end of their lives.

Indian Fairs and Festivals

This list of Hindu festivals summarizes festivals observed in Hinduism.
Uthasava or Utasava or Utsav is derived from the Sanskrit word, Utsasva. Festivals in India are determined by Solar and Lunar positions and they may fall in the different month specified.

Month	Festival
January	Makar Sankranti, Lohri Pongal Thai Pusam Flot Festival National Kite Festival  Kerala Village Festival Bikaner Festival Pattadakal Dance Festival Id-ud-Fitr Vasant Panchami
February	Maha Shivratri Goa Carnival Desert Festival Nagpur Fair International Yoga Week Elephant Festival Deccan Festival Taj Mahostav Surajkund Crafts Mela Chapchar Kut Islands Tourism Festival
March	Holi Ganaur Jamshed-e-Navroz Ramnavami Id-ul-Zuha Mahavir Jayanti Khajuraho Dance Festival Elephant Festival Hoysla Mahotsava Ellora Festival
April	Good Friday Easter Baisakhi Gudi Padva or Ugadi Pooram Mhuarram Buddha Purnima Mewar
May	Urs Festival
June	Ganga Dussehra Hemis Festival
July	Rathyatra Guru Purnima
August	Janmashtami Onam Nag Panchami Raksha Bandhan Ganesh Chaturthi
September	Tranetar  Mela
October	Navaratri Durga Puja Dussehra Marwar Festival
November	Sharad Purnima Diwali Guru Purab Ka Pomlang Nongrem Sonepur Fair Pushkar Fair Hampi Festival
December	Christmas Konark Dance Festival

Did you know

A collection of awesome, interesting, weird and random stuff to tickle your brain. Here are some of the known facts:

• India has the most post offices that any other country (Over 100,000).
• India is home to over 200 million cows.
• The Taj Mahal in India is made entirely out of marble.
• The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
• In 1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
• 11% of people are left handed.
• Taj Mahal appears pink in the morning, white in the day and changes its color to golden in the moon light.
• Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
• Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil. To make 1 pound of honey, bees would have to visit over 2 million flowers.
• An Ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• A lobsters blood is colorless but when exposed to Oxygen it turns blue.
• The 3 most common languages in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and English.
• The smallest bone in the human body is found in our eye.
• When lighting strikes it can reach up to 30,000 degrees Celsius.
• A Giraffe can clean its ears with its 21 inch tongue.
• If you add up all the numbers from 1 to 100 consecutively it totals 5050 (1+2+3...).
• It's possible to lead a cow up stairs not down.
• Humming birds are the only bird that can fly backwards.
• In a deck of cards the king of hearts is the only king without mustache.
• Apples are more effective at waking you up in the morning than coffee.
• The thyroid bone in our body is the only bone in our body not attached to any other bone.
• The oldest word in the English language is 'Town'.
• 'Bookkeeper' and 'Bookkeeping' are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters.
• The Amazon rain-forest produces half the world's Oxygen supply.
• China Manufactures 70% of the worlds toys.

Current Affairs

1. MACE Telescope being setup in Ladakh: A gigantic gamma ray telescope designed, developed and manufactured by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited, is all set to be moved to its home Hanle in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir. The giant Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Telescope which weighs approximately 180 tonne, when installed in the near future will be the second largest of its type in world.

2. PSLV-C23 launched with 5 satellites: PSLV C23 carrying French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7 and four co-passenger spacecrafts from Singapore, Canada and Germany was successfully launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Prime Minister, witnessed the historic moment.The vehicle carried five satellites of different countries and place them onto a sun-synchronous orbit. 

The five satellites are:

• 714 Kgs weighing French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7
• 14 Kgs AISAT of Germany
• NLS7.1 & NSL7.2 of Canada each weighing 15 Kgs
• 7 Kgs VELOX-1 of Singapore

3. Saina Nehwal wins Australian Super Series: Indian ace Shuttler Saina Nehwal won her second title of the season, winning US $ 750,000 Star Australian Super Series after beating Spain's Carolia Marin in the summit clash in Sydney. 

4. West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan Resigned: West Bengal governor M K Narayanan resigned, becoming the fourth person occupying the gubernatorial post to put in his papers since the NDA government prodded some of the governors appointed during UPA rule to quit. 80 years old Narayanan was recently questioned by the CBI as a "witness" in the Agusta Westland VVIP helicopter deal probe. Nagaland governor Ashwini Kumar, Uttar Pradesh governor B L Joshi and Chattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt have put in their papers in the last few days.

Constitution of India

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and set outs fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in world, containing 44 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules, 5 appendices and 98 amendments (out of 120 Constitution Amendments Bills).

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is widely regarded as the father of the Indian Constitution. The constitution was adopted by the India Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, and came into effect on 26 January 1950. The date of 26 January was choosen to commemorate the Purna Swaraj ddeclaration of independence of 1930.

The constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of of justice, equality and liberty and endeavors to promote fraternity among them. The words "Socialist" and "Secular" were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment. India celebrates the adoption of the constitution on 26 January each year as Republic Day. At the time of commencement, the constitution had 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It consists of almost 80,000 words and took 2 years 11 months and 18 days to build.

The constitutional head of the Executive of the Union is the President. As per the Article 79 of the Constitution of India, the council of the Parliament consist of the President and two Houses known as the Council of States i.e. Rajyasabha and the House of the People i.e. Loksabha. Article 74(1) of the constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head to aid and advise the President, who shall exercise his/her functions in accordance to the advise. The real executive power is thus vested in the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head.

Adoptions from other constitutions: The architects of Indian constitution were most heavily influenced by the British model of parliamentary democracy. In addition, a number of principles were adopted from the Constitution of the United State of America, including the separation of powers among the major branches of government and the establishment of a supreme court. The principles adopted from Canada were federal government with strong center and also distribution of powers between center government and state governments along with placing residuary powers with central government. From Ireland, directive principle of state policy was adopted. From Germany, the principle of suspension of fundamental rights during emergency was adopted. From Australia, the idea of having a Concurrent list of shared powers was used as well and some the following was utilized for the preamble.