India on Thursday put up a grand show of army prowess and cultural variety in its first Republic Day parade down the renamed Kartavya Path with a raft of indigenously produced tanks, weapons and missiles, elite troopers on horseback, camels and motorbikes, girls main a number of the largest marching contingents, and jets roaring previous an overcast sky.
The 90-minute parade showcased the nation’s push in the direction of domestically manufactured weapons programs, an Egyptian marching contingent, the primary batch of Agniveers, girls in key management positions, the debut of the Prachand gentle fight helicopter within the Indian Air Drive (IAF) fly-past, and various floats depicting “nari shakti” (lady energy). Not like earlier years, the ceremony was largely freed from controversy.
“Greatest needs on the Republic Day. This event can also be particular as a result of we’re celebrating it through the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. We want to transfer forward collectively to make the desires of our nice freedom fighters of the nation come true. Comfortable Republic Day to all fellow Indians,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
Roughly 45,000thousand spectators braved a chilly and foggy morning to line Kartavya Path as President Droupadi Murmu kicked off the celebrations by unfurling the nationwide flag. This was adopted by a rendition of the nationwide anthem and a 21-gun ceremonial salute, with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi because the chief visitor of the ceremony.
The group included a bunch of particular company — the development staff and upkeep employees of the Central Vista Redevelopment Undertaking.
Modi led the nation in paying tribute to India’s fallen troopers on the Nationwide Struggle Memorial (NWM), a monument devoted to troopers killed in post-Independence wars and operations. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, chief of defence employees Common Anil Chauhan, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and military chief Common Manoj Pande obtained the PM on the struggle memorial.
The parade featured solely domestically made weapons and gear, reflecting the nation’s sharp deal with reaching self-reliance within the defence sector. This included the primary battle tank, Arjun Mk-1, infantry fast response combating autos, Ok-9 Vajra self-propelled weapons, Akash missile programs and Nag missile system. An indigenous artillery gun, the Indian Area Gun, was deployed for the ceremonial salute, changing the classic British-origin 25-pounder gun.
Lieutenant Common Dhiraj Seth, normal officer commanding, headquarters, Delhi Space, led the parade, with Main Common Bhavnish Kumar as his second-in-command. The parade included a mounted column of 61 Cavalry, 9 mechanised columns, six military marching contingents, one every marching contingent of IAF and the navy, three Param Vir Chakra and three Ashok Chakra awardees, a number of army bands, and 23 tableaux.
Squadron Chief Sindhu Reddy led the 144-member IAF marching contingent on the parade, whereas Lieutenant Commander Disha Amrith led the naval contingent. Three girls officers fashioned a part of the military contingent on the parade, together with Lieutenant Chetana Sharma who led Akash missile mechanised column. Lieutenant Dimple Bhati was a part of the military’s “Daredevils” bike stunt workforce on the parade.
For the primary time, the navy’s marching contingent featured 9 Agniveers – six males and three girls – who started their coaching at INS Chilka in Odisha in early December. The navy’s first batch of Agniveers, recruited underneath the brand new Agnipath scheme, consists of three,000 trainees together with 341 girls. The Agnipath mannequin for short-term induction of troopers into the three companies is a serious departure from the army’s decades-old recruitment system that was discontinued when the federal government introduced the brand new scheme in 2022. It seeks to recruit troopers for under 4 years, with a provision to retain 25% of them in common service.
The Egyptian marching contingent comprised 144 troopers. This was the fourth time that overseas troopers took half within the parade. A French military contingent took half for the primary time in 2016, adopted by a workforce from the UAE in 2017, and a Bangladesh military contingent in 2021.
The fly-past, which fashioned the grand finale of the parade, concerned 45 IAF plane – together with Rafales, Sukhoi-30s, Jaguars, C-130J particular operations plane, Apache assault helicopters, 4 military choppers, and a naval plane. The indigenous Prachand gentle fight helicopter, inducted into IAF final October, took half within the fly-past for the primary time. It flew within the Prachand arrow formation with two Apaches and two Dhruv superior gentle helicopters.
This was the primary time in three years that the Republic Day parade had a chief visitor, after two earlier editions had been truncated by the pandemic.
The states and Union territories which introduced tableaux embrace Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, UT of Dadar Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Haryana, UT of Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerela, UT of Ladakh, Maharashtra, Tamil Naidu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
From wide-ranging themes resembling Naya Jammu and Kashmir, to Baba Baidyanath Dham (Jharkhand), Land of Heroes and Spiritualism (Assam), Tourism & Composite Tradition of Ladakh and Durga Puja in Kolkata: Inscribing Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO (West Bengal), they tried to seize the variety of the nation.