We just celebrated our Independence Day recently on 15 August 2022 across the nation with much grandeur and enthusiasm. Various events, campaigns, and programs by the central and state governments were organized and observed to commemorate Independent India. Not only the administration but the citizens around the corners of the country also actively partook in the celebrations leading to the grand celebration of Independence Day.

 So, the question that arises here is…

Whether India celebrated its 75th or 76th Independence Day?

Many citizens were confused and took to social media, trolling and mocking the government and other official handles for lack of education on whether it was the 75th or 76th Independence Day celebration. Some individuals argue that it is the 75th Independence Day because August 15, 1948, was the first anniversary of India's independence, and others argue that it is the 76th Independence Day, counting the number of Independence Days celebrated in India, which includes August 15, 1947.

 India celebrated its 76th Independence Day on 15 August 2022.

The answer is, that India celebrated its 76 Independence Day while also celebrating the 75 years of its freedom (an anniversary).

 The confusion is caused by just mere mathematics-infused ordinal and cardinal number systems (the system is imposed depending on the situation). 

This confusing situation is similar to that of the confusion between East Asian and Western age calculation methods.  'The East Asian age reckoning, is a method to calculate the age of a person in East Asian countries and cultures such as China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, etc. In contrast to the other countries of the world, in this method, a person is already considered a year old when they are born, as opposed to the person being zero at birth. Meaning, that the first year of its life is counted as one, starting from the New Year (or Lunar year) instead of zero, and beginning from the anniversary of its birthday in the next year. Therefore, that person is two years old in their second year, three years old in their third, and so on. Whether the person is born on 1st January 2000 or 31st December 2000, does not matter since they usually follow the ordinal number system to determine an age. So, if you are 22 years old in India, it means you will be counted as 23 years old if you were to be born in South Korea.

Let me explain thoroughly in the context of Independent India-

Our nation got its independence on 15 August 1947, the rest are just anniversaries. One must not count the day of India being Independent like a birthday calendar. 15 August 1947, was the first Independence Day/year, 2nd Independence Day/year would be 15 August 1948, and so on…

However, August 15, 1948, was the first anniversary of India's independence, by which logic, the celebration on 15 August 2022 is the 75th anniversary of Independent India and by calculating the number of Independence Days celebrated in India, it will be 76 because the freedom that India attained on August 15, 1947, was the country's first-ever Independence Day.

Let's take a simple example- Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi was elected as the Prime Minister on 26 May 2014, which makes it 8 years of Modi Sarkar and not 7 years. Just as Shri Pema Khandu, Honourable Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh was elected as the CM on 17 July 2016 which makes it 6 years of Pema governance and not 5 years.

In conclusion, 

We are celebrating 75 years of Independence and freedom but celebrated 76th Independence Day on 15 August 2022. We have been celebrating Independence Day in this order since the inception of Independent India. We celebrated 71st Independence Day in 2017, 72nd in 2018…hence 76th in 2022.

 The Corona pandemic just messed up with the math and logic of the people because of the gap and time-lapse it caused in many activities.

 Note: India got independence first and only once in the year 1947 on August 15 and the rest are just anniversaries of our freedom.