One hundred women artists with Indian musical instruments will herald the 75th Republic Day parade

New Delhi: The 75^th Republic Day parade will be heralded by 100 women artists with Indian musical instruments – a first for the grand ceremonial event – while participation of women will be the maximum in the parade’s history, a top defence ministry official said here on Friday.

More than 77,000 people including 13,000 special guests like holders of impactful patents and copyrights will watch the annual spectacle having some of the country’s latest military acquisition from close quarters. “The special guests will highlight the importance of the public in the Republic Day parade,” said Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be the chief guest at this year’s parade. A 95-member marching contingent and 33-member band contingent from France will also take part in the parade while two Rafale fighter jets and one Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft of the French Air Force will fly over the central boulevard.

The annual show will start at 10.30 am and run for about 90 minutes. The seating capacity at Kartavya Path is 77,000, of which 42,000 is reserved for the general public.

The parade will also witness an all-women tri-service contingent marching down Kartavya Path for the first time. The central armed police force's contingents will be all women teams and a significant number of pilots in the flypast will be women. “Best representation of women will be seen in this year’s Republic Day parade,” he said.

Other special guests will include headmen from nearly 300 border villages, women space scientists of ISRO, yoga teachers and a section of the beneficiaries of centrally-funded government schemes. They will sit in a special enclosure just opposite to the one housing the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Guest.

Aramane said the Defence Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with 29 states for an assured spot in the R-Day parade every three years. The states that were dropped this year will be accommodated next year. Tableaus from 16 states and 9 government departments including CSIR and ISRO will roll down on the Kartavya Path.

Earlier the Union government came under criticism from opposition ruled states like West Bengal, Punjab and Karnataka for dropping their tableaus from the show.