A strong and resurgent India will be celebrating its 61^st Republic Day tomorrow. This year’s parade will highlight the nation’s achievements in various fields, the military prowess, scintillating display of air power as also country’s rich and diverse cultural heritage.

 The highlight of this year’s Parade will be the MBT Arjun, Smerch Multiple Launch Rocket System, Armoured Engineer Recce Vehicle, Sarvatra Bridge, Electronic Warfare System, Samyukta, ICV BMP-II Sarath, Ambulance Tracked and ALH Dhruv. Also on view will be the indigenous systems being developed by the DRDO including the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Agni-III Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, Shourya Surface-to-Surface Strategic Missile and the Rohini Radar.

In the year of the Commonwealth Games being hosted by New Delhi, a bevy of sportspersons including boxer Vijender Singh, wrestler Sushil Kumar, weightlifter K Malleshwari, athlete PT Usha, hockey player, Zafar Iqbal, shooter Samresh Jung, Badminton player Gopichand Pullela, India’s former Hockey captains AjitPal Singh and Zafar Iqbal, swimmer Khajan Singh and veteran Olympian Milkha Singh will be the star attractions of the parade accompanying the tableau of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

The parade ceremony will commence at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate where the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will lead the nation in paying homage to the martyrs by laying wreath.  An eternal flame burns at the Amar Jawan Jyoti to commemorate the indomitable courage of our Armed Forces personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the motherland. The Amar Jawan, the immortal soldier, is symbolised by a reversed rifle topped by a helmet.

As per tradition, after unfurling of the National Flag, the National Anthem will be played. Thereafter President Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil will confer the Ashok Chakra on Major D. Sreeram Kumar of 39 Assam Rifles, Major Mohit Sharma (posthumous) of 1^st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) and  Havildar Rajesh Kumar (posthumous) of 11^th Battalion, The Rajputana Rifles.

The parade will then commence and the President will take the salute. This year’s Chief Guest in the parade will be Mr. Lee Myung-bak, President of Republic of Korea.

The parade will be commanded by Lt. General Kanwal Jeet Singh Oberoi, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area. Brig Kuldip Singh will be the parade Second-in-Command. Param Vir Chakra winners Subedar Major (Honorary captain) Bana Singh (retd), Havildar Sanjay Kumar, 13 JAK RIF and Havildar Yogendra Singh Yadav, 18 Grenadiers and Ashok Chakra Winners Lt Col Jas Ram Singh (retd), Brigadier CA Pithawalla, Cdr, HQ 3 Sect Rashtriya Rifles and Hony Naib subedar Chhering Mutup (retd) will follow the Deputy Parade Commander on Jeeps.

The marching contingents of Army will include the horse-mounted columns of the 61^st Cavalry, the Brigade of the Guards, Madras Regiment, Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Dogra Regiment, Bihar Regiment, Gorkha Regiment and the Territorial Army. The marching contingents of Navy comprising 144 men will be led by Lt. Commander Ajay Verma and the Air Force contingent comprising 148 men will be led by Sq. Ldr. R. Katoch. 

The marching contingents of paramilitary and other auxiliary civil forces will include contingents from the Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, Coast Guard, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Railway Protection Force, Delhi Police, National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme. The Camel-mounted band of the  BSF  will  be another attraction.

Tableaux from 21 states and Central Ministries and Departments will present the varied historical, architectural and cultural heritage of the country. They will also showcase country’s progress in different fields.  

Nineteen of the 21 children selected for the National Bravery Award – 2009 will also participate in the parade. Two children have got the award posthumously.

In the children’s pageant section, 750 boys and girls drawn from Kamal Model Senior Secondary School, Mohan Garden, Vandana International School, Dwarka, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Yamuna Vihar, Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Maujpur, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Samlaka, Delhi and North-East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur different school of Delhi and regional cultural zones will present dances and other programmes.

Jaanbaz, the motorcycle display by the Border Security Force will be a major attraction of the parade. It will consist of 178 riders on 34 motorcycles performing Border Man Salute, Back Riding, Ladder Balancing, Guldasta, Operation Tawar, Seema Chowki Buland, Seema Prahari and Flag March under the leadership of Inspector Gurpreet Singh.  They will perform breathtaking stunts in a synchronised and synergetic display of   mind, body and machine coordination.

The grand finale of  the  parade  will  be  a spectacular flypast  by the IAF, with the AWACS participating in the Parade for the first time. One IL-78, flanked by two AN-32 and two Dornier, flying in Big Boy formation, will lead the flypast. This will be followed by one AWACS, flanked by two Su-30 MKI, flying in Sentry formation. Five Jaguars followed by five MiG-29 will fly in Arrowhead formation. The breathtaking Trishul formation comprising three Su-30 MKI would fly over the Rajpath and once in front of the saluting dais the Su-30MKI aircraft at the centre would carry out a Vertical Charlie manoeuvre. 

The ceremony will culminate with the National Anthem and release of balloons.

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Samir / PK/ RAJ