SRM University-AP marked the 80th Independence Day on 15 August 2026 with a ceremony held in the university’s main courtyard, bringing together students, faculty and staff. Vice Chancellor Prof. Ch Satish Kumar was received and honoured by Major General Gurdeep Singh Narang, Director of Student Discipline and Hostels, following which the Vice Chancellor unfurled and hoisted the national flag. A parade presented jointly by the National Cadet Corps and the university’s security personnel followed, lending the proceedings a fitting sense of discipline and national pride.

The celebrations then moved indoors to the Atrium, where Vice Chancellor Prof. Ch Satish Kumar addressed the gathering. Extending his greetings on the occasion of Independence Day, Prof. Ch Satish Kumar opened his address by paying tribute to the sacrifices of those who secured the nation’s freedom, before turning to India’s growth in the decades since.

He spoke of the role that the country’s youth, together with its industrialists and educators, have to play in shaping India’s future, and observed that the nation’s long-standing image as a consumer economy is steadily giving way to the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat, a self-reliant India. Quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and other emerging fields, he noted, stand among the principal catalysts driving this development, with education continuing to occupy a central place in the country’s progress. He closed his address by reaffirming economic growth as a defining national aim.

Both the flag hoisting ceremony in the courtyard and the address that followed in the Atrium were graced by Dr Vinayak Kalluri, Registrar, along with Deans of all schools, Directors and members of the university’s leadership, together with students and staff from across the teaching and non-teaching community.

The formal proceedings gave way to a cultural programme presented by the student community, featuring an instrumental performance, a vocal recital, a solo classical performance, and a skit portraying an imagined exchange between a woman of the 1940s and her present-day counterpart. A yoga-dance fusion piece and a group dance rounded off the celebrations.

Eighty years after independence, the celebrations at SRM University-AP wove together remembrance and resolve, honouring the sacrifices of the past while affirming the university’s own role in shaping the nation’s future.