The National Pledge

The National Pledge is an oath of allegiance to the Republic of India. It is commonly recited by Indians in unison at public events, especially in schools, and during the Independance Day and Republic Day Celebrations. It is commonly found printed in the opening pages of school textbooks.

India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.
I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.
I shall always strive to be worthy of it.
I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy.
To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.

The pledge was originally composed in Telugu language by writer Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao while working as the District Treasury Officer of Vishakhapatnam in 1962. A native of Anneparthy village of Nalgonda district, he presented it to senior Congress leader Tenneti Viswanadam, who forwarded it to the then Education Minister P.V.G. Raju. It was first read out in a school in Visakhapatnam in 1963 and later in many other schools that year. It was subsequently translated into various regional languages. The Central Advisory Board on Education meeting in 1964 in Bangalore, under its chairman M. C. Chagla, directed that the pledge be read in schools and that this practice be introduced by 26 January 1965, the next Republic Day.

Subba Rao was said to have been unaware of its status as the National Pledge. He was said to have come to know about it when his granddaughter was reading the pledge from her textbook.