Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo

"Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" (ऐ मेरे वतन के लोगों; "O! the people of my country!") is a Hindi patriotic song written by Kavi Pradeep and composed by C. Ramchandra commemorating Indian soldiers who died during the Sino-Indian War. Kavi Pradeep was reportedly moved to compose the song by accounts of casualties of the war.

The song was famously performed live on January 27, 1963 by Lata Mangeshkar at the National Stadium in the presence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on account of Republic Day (26 January) 1963, just two months after the end of the war. A copy of the soundtrack spool was also later gifted to Nehru on the occasion. The song is said to have moved Nehru to tears.

All of the artists and technicians involved with the song &mdash; including singers, musicians, music director, lyricist, recording studio, sound recordist &mdash; and later, lyricist Kavi Pradeep pledged the royalty of the song in perpetuity to the War Widows Fund. In 2005, the Bombay High Court asked the music company HMV to indicate a lump sum payable to the Army Welfare Fund from the song's royalty proceeds.