Nation remembers the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Friday on her 93rd birth anniversary while several commemorative functions are being held across the country to mark the occasion. 

In the national capital, President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi offered floral tributes at her Smadhi, Shakti Sathal Friday morning.

Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust organised a Concert in the morning to mark the day. Several other functions are being organised on the birth anniversary. Many state governments are launching welfare schemes to mark the occasion.

Several programmes have been lined up at the Congress Headquarters. Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust is organising a Memorial Concert to mark the day. In her memory, Priyadarshani Vriksha Mitra Awards will also be given away to achievers in the field of environment. Eminent people who have worked for National Integration will also be awarded.

In Uttar Pradesh, at her ancestral home Anand Bhawan, people from all walks of life are reaching to pay floral tribute to great leader.

In Puducherry, floral tributes were paid to former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary on Friday.

Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam, Assembly Speaker Radhakrishnan, Ministers, MLAs and PCC President A.V. Subramanian garlanded Indira Gandhi’s statue.

The Chief Minister also administered national integration pledge to the participants.

National Integration Week is also being all over the country from Friday. Several programmes, with a specific theme on each of the seven days, will be held during the week.

Meetings, symposia, seminars, special literary functions, cultural functions and programmes to highlight themes under focus would mark the observance of Qaumi Ekta Week. The week began with a National Integration Pledge. Home Minister P Chidambaram has written to different Union Ministries for organising programmes or events befitting the occasion.

Gandhi, born on 19th November 1917 in the politically influential Nehru family, was the first woman Prime Minister of India. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of independent India.

After Nehru’s death in 1964, she became a Rajya Sabha member and was inducted in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She held three consecutive terms as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977.

The Congress leader was assassinated on 31st October 1984 during her fourth stint.