The 2010 Commonwealth Games was officially opened by India’s President Pratibha Patil at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. Earlier the final Baton Bearer passed the Baton to Prince Charles from Great Britain where he then retrieved and read the message from his Mother the Queen to the 60,000 spectators including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and foreign diplomats. The ceremony ended with a noisy version of AR Rahman’s Jai Ho!

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Foreign Minister SM Krishna mentioned that he is confident and has assured all that India will be able to deliver on the 2010 Commonwealth Games. According to him, the prolonged monsoons have created several problems.

A ceiling caved in at the 2010 Commonwealth Games weightlifting arena with a 2,500 sitting capacity. Luckily no one was injured.

A foot-over bridge outside the presitigious Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, main 2010 Commonwealth Games venue, collapsed. 27 people were injured of which five were in critically condition.

Hindustan Aircraft Chief Test Pilot Captain M.V. Namjoshi, aged 38, died in a plane crash around the hour of noon on the grounds of Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore. He was piloting a Hindustan Trainer 2 (HT-2) plane, and putting her through aerobatic exercises, when the machine plunged to the ground. Capt. Namjoshi was one of India’s outstanding pilots, and among the most competent officials of Hindustan Aircraft. A very senior pilot with a distinguished record of service and been Chief Pilot Inspector at the Civil Aviation Training Centre in Allahabad. Capt. Namjoshi won the Willingdon Cup for coming first in the Delhi-Calcutta air race in February 1950. He took part in a number of air races in India, and also in an Indo-Ceylon air competition. He was survived by his wife, two sons, and two daughters.

India adopted its Constitution to proclaim itself a Republic.

At midnight India became an independent nation however it remained a Dominion of The British Crown.