The first noble laureate of the country, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore wrote the song Jana-Gana-Mana, which became our National Anthem. Poet, author, musician, and a well-known member of the Indian society, Tagore had many titles. For the Independence of India and the creation of its new identity, Tagore used his pen as his weapon. Through his creations, he weaved the dreams of a modern, independent, educated, and united India, and gave this dream to his country.

Three decades after this song was penned, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose declared it our National Anthem in 1942 when he was training the Indian National Army or INA in Germany, to fight against the British army, he realized that we need a national anthem, to encourage the men and keep them united. INA soldier, N.G. Ganpuley, who also wrote a book on Netaji, claims that with great complexity and enthusiasm the debate concluded that, Jana-Gana-Mana is the right choice for the National Anthem. On 11th September 1942, Netaji inaugurated the German Indian Society of Hamburg. On this occasion, this popular song of India was sung to the people, as the new identity of India.

For the spread of this song, Netaji asked Mumtaz Hussain and Abid Hasan Safrani, the two generals of his Indian National Army, to present this song in Hindi. The Hindi translation prepared in 1943 Shubh Sukh Chain, was composed with a military beat by the INA Captain Ram Singh Thakur. The original Bengali song written by Tagore had five stanzas. The Indian version of INA had three, and the current official national anthem has one stanza, which is sung in 52 seconds. Tagore translated his song into English, which is called the morning song of India.

On 28th February 1919, this song was sung by Tagore for the first time outside Kolkata, in the Theosophical College of Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh. In 1944 when India was struggling to have Independence and a separate identity for itself, in those times, Bimal Roy included the Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in his Bengali film Udayer Pathey. In 1945 he filmed the same story in Hindi called Humrahi. Once again Tagore's song was played on the big screen.

Finally, when India attained freedom, we needed an official national anthem to represent the country at international festivals and occasions. The international government and the Indian embassy questioned the constituent assembly, and what song should be played on behalf of India on special occasions. Now we needed a song that becomes the identity of an independent and united India.

On the 25th of August India's constituent assembly, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, the INA had already declared Jana-Gana-Mana as India's national anthem in south-east Asia with minor changes, and this song has also become popular in India. This way on 24th January 1950 during the final session of the constituent assembly of India, the president of the assembly and India's first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad declared Jana-Gana-Mana as India's official National Anthem.

Jana-Gana-Mana talks about uniting India, fulfilling our duty, and encourages us to sacrifice ourselves for India. It's a heritage of the leaders that shaped our country, for us and our future generations. For that country which is shaped from sweat and blood, and ready to face any challenge.