Build India Group

The Pledge

In our mission to foster good citizenry, we created a Citizen's Pledge in 22 languages, to be used in schools and colleges, by students. By taking this pledge, a student commits to the nation to be a good citizen, and to work in all honesty and sincerity in the interest of the nation. Always keeping the interest of the nation first.

This Pledge created by Build India Group, to replace the earlier 'national pledge', acknowledges the need for the student to not only be a good human but also to commit to the Fundamental Duties as per the 42nd Amendment, always working in the nation's interest.

The Pledge has been part of the annual integrity building exercise initially in the third week of January each year, begining in 2009. However since 2015, it is celebrated on 26th November – Constitution Day.

Students write the pledge in their mother tongue, obtain signatures from their parents, recite it in unison in a charged school ambience and submit it to the school authority.

The Pledge, in all 22 pledges has already been distributed to educational institutions across the country. This pledge is central to Constitution Day ceremonies, performed on 26th November each year.

It is a matter of pride that many institutions have adopted the pledge as part of their morning prayers, and more and more are doing so. We hope, with your help, that this becomes part of the morning prayer in all educational institutions.

A Daily National Invocation:

Building a New India, by reciting the Pledge daily, in unison.

Imagine our schools across the nation, every morning, echoing with the proud names of India or Bharat, as students collectively utter the name of their motherland. How inspiring would that be?

This simple, yet profound, practice has the power to give birth to a new, vibrant India, fostering a generation deeply committed to nation-building.

The Vision: A New India Through Daily Commitment

When young minds daily reaffirm their commitment to the nation, a silent mantra begins to take root. They learn to instinctively keep the nation's interest paramount in their thoughts, words, and actions. This daily dose of national consciousness is crucial for shaping responsible and patriotic citizens.

The Current Landscape: A Need for Uniformity

At present, no such uniform, inspiring practice has truly taken root across all educational institutions. We lack a common text that unites all sections of society in a solemn pledge of commitment to our beloved country. This is where a powerful initiative comes in.

Build India Group (BIG): Fostering Citizenry Consciousness.

The Build India Group (BIG), a Delhi-based civil society NGO, is dedicated to building citizenry consciousness with Article 51 A of the Indian Constitution, dealing with fundamental duties, as its core foundation. Recognizing the need for a unifying practice, BIG has developed a truly transformative tool.

The Citizen’s Pledge: A Transformative Tool

BIG has crafted a very simple, yet deeply impactful, integrity-building exercise: a Citizen’s Pledge. This pledge has been translated into all 22 official languages, ensuring its accessibility and relevance across the diverse fabric of our nation. It is quickly gaining wide acceptance due to its unique, participatory method.

• Emotional Depth & Social Sanctity: The exercise involves students writing the pledge and then having their parents sign this solemn document. This engagement of parents lends the pledge both emotional depth within the family and social sanctity within the community.

• Nationwide Adoption: Institutions across the country are increasingly undertaking this exercise, particularly during the annual Constitution Day celebrations on November 26th.

The pledge, in English, reads:

“We the people of India today do solemnly pledge ourselves to the service of our nation; with honesty, sincerity and commitment always keeping our nation’s interest paramount in all that we think do or say for the greater glory of this land”.

The exercise also includes students giving a written commitment in their mother tongue that:

“We reject violence, we promise to keep our environment clean and tidy and we promise to be good citizens”.

Integrating the Pledge into Daily Life

The true transformative effect emerges when institutions incorporate this pledge into their daily morning prayer programs, a practice many have already embraced. Through this additional step, there is a daily commitment by the young to the nation and to fundamental duties, covering vital aspects such as:

• Being good citizens

• Respecting neighbours

• Cultivating civic consciousness

• Caring for the environment

• Rejecting violence

As this powerful exercise spreads across the country, its spirit will undoubtedly be transformative, nurturing a generation of responsible, aware, and patriotic Indians.

A Call to Action: **Join the Movement! – Transform Young Minds**

This program needs to reach every institution throughout the country. We invite you to join us in this vital initiative!

• Reach Out: Connect with the educational institutions you have access to. Encourage them to expedite the inclusion of this Citizen's Pledge in their morning assembly recitation.

• Be a Partner: We see each one of you as a vital partner in this transformative cause. If we join hands, our march towards a stronger nation will be more powerful.

• Raise Your Voice: If we raise our voices together in the name of the nation, the sound will become a symphony of unity and purpose.

Let our children rise as proud Indians and lead our beloved nation towards glorious heights!

Akyatan – Symphony of Harmony

Bolstering national integration, mass participation

To bolster the feeling of a national integration, promote good citizenry and earmark the Constitution Day on November 26, in a one-of-its kind campaign, Build India Group (BIG), devised a unique country-wide programme called ‘Symphony of Harmony’ (AIKYATAAN).

The program BIG devised was based on people expressing their solidarity to fight violence of all kinds through a symphony by use of conchs, drums, musical instruments or even banging a silver platter at a fixed time. The national integration meant that people should have an emotional bonding with the country. Such a program can be devised for other causes of national integretion and mass involvement.

Nation and country are two different constructs; country is a physical entity while nation is an emotional feeling, Prior to Independence India was neither a country nor a nation. Our efforts are to strengthen India as a physical entity as well as a nation.

Reaching out

BIG has devised a three pronged strategy to reach out to children across the country, to involve religious institution and to take the help of policy makers and the government so that every section of society is engaged in this herculean effort to promote the concept of national integration. Involving children, so that they are able to imbibe the concept of unity of India.

The role of religious institutions is also very important because the aim of all religions is to promote the concept of good citizenry and good citizenry is the answer to corruption and terrorism. The drive to work for the country comes from the heart.

This innovative idea for mass participation, Akyatan, by Build India Group, found favour with the PM who adopted it for nationwide participation by citizens, during Covid, for thanking frontline workers. This was later adopted internationally.

A few examples of the Akyatan/Symphony Of Harmony program in Delhi:

Haritbol

Plants play a critical role in the very survival of humanity. They produce oxygen through photosynthesis, provide food and shelter for animals, food, medicine, fuel and raw material for humans. They provide habitat for countless organism supporting biodiversity.

Plants also play a key role in the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide, and help filter harmful substances from air, cleaning the air. Plants play a crucial role in the carbon cycle and maintain ecosystem balance. Plant roots bind the soil, preventing soil erosion helping to keep the soil fertile. Plants contribute towards reducing temperatures and reducing global warming.

It is important that our young begin to understand the importance of nurturing plants, planting more saplings to grow more plants – takes years for these to develop into large healthy plants, needed to sustain a healthy environment for our future generations.

Part of the Constitution Day celebrations, students plant saplings, tie a thread around trees making a commitment to water it, look after it.

This initiative has seen widespread adoption during Pledge Festivals across schools.