Republic Day

Ten distinguished personalities, including four women, from seven of the eight northeastern states were conferred Padma Shri awards in different fields. The four women are Shakuntala Choudhary of Assam for social work while Lourembam Bino Devi and Muktamani Devi, both from Manipur, were recognised for their contributions in art and trade and industry, respectively, and Badaplin War of Meghalaya in the field of Literature and Education.

General Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 12 armed personnel were killed in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu on December 8, 2021. Others who have been honoured with Padma Vibhushan include Prabha Atre (Art), Kalyan Singh (Public Affairs, Posthumous) and Radhyashyam Khemka (Literature & Education, Posthumous) On January 14 this year, the Court of Inquiry constituted to probe the military chopper crash ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as a cause of the accident.

Spectators arriving at the Rajpath here to witness the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 (Wednesday) are all set to find the boulevard in a "new-look" as the work on the government's ambitious Central Vista Project is underway at a rapid pace. The work on the re-development of Rajpath was going on under the Central Vista Project due to which this year, the ceremonial boulevard will look more beautiful than before.

The hymn, known to be Mahatma Gandhi's favourite, triggered controversy in 2020 when it did not appear in the list of tunes. 'Abide with Me' is a military tune played after bugle was made to announce post sunset let's pick up injured and dead. It was mutually accepted war discipline across the world. The tune 'Abide with Me' was played by military bands when the warriors were collecting their bravehearts.

"The Army will be represented by a mounted column of cavalry, 14 mechanised columns, six marching contingents and a flypast by advanced light helicopters of its aviation wing at the Republic Day parade-2022 (RDP-2022)," it said. The statement further mentioned that the mechanised columns of the Army will show one PT-76 tank, one Centurion tank, two MBT Arjun MK-I tanks, one APC TOPAS armoured personnel carriers, one BMP-I infantry fighting vehicle and two BMP-II infantry fighting vehicles.

Top Delhi Police sources told IANS that strict security arrangements have been put in place across the national capital. "On such occasions [Republic Day], Delhi Police always raise the alert. We increase our visibility, presence and checking to counter any threat," a senior police officer said.

The state's programme will be a curtailed one of 30 minutes duration because of the Covid-19 pandemic situation. According to senior officials of the state home department, Netaji is going to be the central theme in the state's Republic Day function. Tableaux of Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Airforce and Kolkata Police will also be showcased at the Red Road function, which will be graced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Politics of tableau heated up after the Centre rejected the proposals of Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu tableaux in the Republic Day parade. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Sunday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention after the Centre rejected her state's Republic Day tableaux on Subhas Chandra Bose. In his letter to both the leaders, Rajnath Singh stated that of the 29 proposals from states and union territories, 12 were accepted.

I hereby prohibit flying of sub-conventional aerial platforms like para-gliders, para-motors, hang gliders, UAVs, UASs, microlight aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft, hot air balloons, small size powered aircraft, quadcopters or para jumping from aircraft etc. over the jurisdiction of the National Capital Territory of Delhi on the occasion of Republic Day Function-2022," read an order by the Delhi Police chief.

As per sources, due to the corona situation, the Government of India is in no mood to take any risk to invite any foreign guest, so the plan seems to have been cancelled. Last year, British Prime minister Boris Johnson was invited for the same, but later cancelled due to rising corona cases in the UK. In the past, there have been occasions when the Republic Day ceremony was celebrated without any foreign guest.