Republic Day parade, Beating Retreat ceremony to sport new look with drones, scrolls

Defence Ministry sources said for the first time, dedicated seats will be kept for commoners like autorickshaw drivers

Hand-painted scrolls measuring 750 metres on both sides of the Rajpath, 75 aircraft flying over the central boulevard and 1,000 drones in synchronous flight over the Vijay Chowk — the Republic Day parade and the Beating Retreat ceremony will sport a new look in the 75th year of India’s independence.

But to avoid chances of the event turning into a Covid-19 super-spreader, the Defence Ministry will allow only 5,000-8,000 people to be present physically at the parade, encouraging the public to watch it on television or online.

Around 25,000 people had attended the parade last year, which happened towards the end of the first Covid-19 wave.

Botlab, a startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, will undertake the synchronised flight of 1,000 drones during the Beating Retreat ceremony on January 29. This will make India the fourth country after China, Russia and USA to operate a swarm of 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles.

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Defence Ministry sources on Tuesday said that for the first time, dedicated seats will be kept for commoners like autorickshaw drivers, construction workers, healthcare workers and frontline staff to witness the parade as well as the Beating Retreat — a military tradition dating from the days when troops disengaged from battle at the sunset.

The parade will start at 10.30 am — instead of the usual 10 am — for better visibility during the fly-past at the end involving 75 aircraft. The IAF’s latest acquisition, Rafale fighter jets, will be part of the show. The new-look Central Vista will also be thrown open to the public.

Fighter jets like Rafale, Sukhoi and Jaguar, helicopters like Mi-17, ALH and Apache, and vintage transport aircraft Dakota will take part in the fly-past, which will comprise 15 breathtaking formations.

There will be 10 huge hand-painted scrolls, each having a breadth of 75 mt and a height of 15 mt, along the Rajpath highlighting the contribution of unsung heroes of the freedom movement and India’s cultural heritage. The scrolls have been created by more than 500 artists in two separate camps at Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh in partnership with the National Gallery of Modern Arts that will showcase them in different parts of the country after the national parade, and finally preserve them.

There will be 10 giant LED screens — five each on both sides of the decked-up Rajpath. They will show curated films before the parade and telecast the parade for better viewing once it starts. A new addition during the Beating Retreat ceremony will be the projection mapping on the parapets of the iconic North and South Blocks as the dusk descends.

Defence Ministry sources said henceforth, the Republic Day-Beating Retreat ceremony will be celebrated for a week beginning with the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on January 23 and ending on the Martyr’s Day on January 30 when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

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