23rd January to be celebrated as “PARAKRAM DIWAS’ every year

Context

Government of India has decided to celebrate the 125th Birth Anniversary year of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in a befitting manner at national and international level, beginning from 23^rd January 2021.

About PARAKRAM DIWAS

• 23^rd January will be celebrated to honour and remember Netaji’s indomitable spirit and selfless service to the nation.
• The day aimsto inspire people of the country, especially the youth, to act with fortitude in the face of adversity as Netaji did, and to infuse in them a spirit of patriotic fervour.

Subhas Chandra Bose

Earlier life

• Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Province.
• Subhas Chandra Bose, affectionately called as Netaji, was one of the most prominent leaders of Indian freedom struggle.
• He went to England in 1919 to compete for Indian Civil Services. In England he appeared for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination in 1920, and came out fourth in order of merit.

Initiation of Political life

• Subhas Chandra Bose was deeply disturbed by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, and left his Civil Services apprenticeship midway to return to India in 1921.
• He started working under Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, whom he later acknowledged his political guru.
• He started the newspaper Swaraj. 
• Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed during Civil Disobedience movement in 1930. He was released in 1931 after Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed.
  • He protested against the Gandhi-Irwin pact and opposed the suspension of Civil Disobedience movement especially when Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged.
• The presidential election to the Tripuri Congress session took place early 1939. Subhas Chandra Bose was re-elected, defeating Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had been backed by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee. 

Struggle for Independence from abroad

• In January 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared from his home in Calcutta and reached Germany via Afghanistan.
• In January 1942, he began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin, which aroused tremendous enthusiasm in India.
• In July 1943, he arrived in Singapore from Germany. In Singapore he took over the reins of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia from Rash Behari Bose and organised the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) comprising mainly of Indian prisoners of war.
• Azad Hind Fauj proceeded towards India to liberate it from British rule. Enroute it lliberatedAndeman and Nicobar Islands.
• The I.N.A. Head quarter was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944. Azad Hind Fauj crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on March 18 ,1944.However, defeat of Japan and Germany in the Second World War forced INA to retreat and it could not achieve its objective.
• Subhas Chandra Bose was reportedly killed in an air crash over Taipeh, Taiwan (Formosa) on August 18, 1945.