India / ITBP personnel celebrate R-Day at 17,000 ft in Ladakh, video surfaces

The tricolour stands out against a desolate, frosty tableau of brown and white and flies high above the men trudging slowly through the fresh snow.

They are 17,000 feet above sea level. The temperature is -20 degrees Celsius.

But the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's Himveers show no signs of fatigue when they raise a full-throated cry: "Bharat Mata Ki Jai!"

The ITBP is a specialised mountain force -- most of whose officers and men are trained mountaineers and skiers -- and guards the border from Ladakh's Karakoram Pass to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh.

#WATCH Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel with the national flag celebrating Republic Day at 17000 feet in snow today. The temperature in Ladakh at present is minus 20 degrees Celsius. 'Himveers' chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'. pic.twitter.com/ANCe8txnFI

— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2020

These scenes were captured in Ladakh as India celebrates the day on which its supreme law -- the Constitution -- came into effect on January 26, 1950.

"Our Constitution gave us rights as citizens of a free democratic nation, but also placed on us the responsibility to always adhere to the central tenets of our democracy justice, liberty, equality and fraternity," President Ram Nath Kovind told the nation on the eve of Republic Day.

Republic Day celebrations are being held across the country, and the annual parade in New Delhi is set to begin shortly.

Meanwhile, we salute our jawans for keeping the national flag flying high, and wish you all a Happy Republic Day!