For the people, by the people: Govt cuts down VIP seats to accommodate commoners

With the spirit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Janbhagidari’ vision, the government has decided to cut down VIP seats to accommodate common people in this year’s Republic Day show here. “The Republic Day celebrations will be held in a spirit of greater ‘Janbhagdari’ and workers of Central Vista project and their family members, maintenance workers of Kartavya Path, vegetable vendors, milk booth workers, grocery shopkeepers and rickshaw pullers will be “special invitees”, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane said. “Before Covid-19, over a lakh people used to attend the Republic Day celebrations, which was drastically cut in the immediate years following the outbreak of the pandemic in India (in early 2020). This year about 42,000 people are expected to attend it and 32,000 tickets for seats at the event have been put online, and the response from people have been good,” the defence secretary said. the revamped Central Vista Avenue, and the government has put 32,000 tickets on sale online for the masses, defence ministry officials said on Wednesday. For the first time, all official invites for the ceremonial event will be sent online, they said. This will be the first Republic Day celebrations hosted at the ceremonial boulevard after Rajpath was renamed to ‘Kartavya Path’ last year. A presentation on the celebrations to be held from January 23-31 as part of the Republic Day celebrations was made on Wednesday after a press briefing by at the South Block here. Many new events are being organised as part of the Republic Day celebrations this year. These include Military Tattoo and Tribal dance festival; Veer Gatha 2.0; second edition of Vande Bharatam dance competition; performances of Military and Coast Guard bands at the National War Memorial; an All-India School Band Competition; a Drone Show and projection mapping during Beating the Retreat ceremony. As part of Republic Day celebrations and to mark the 126th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (celebrated as Parakram Diwas), a Military Tattoo and Tribal Dance festival ‘Aadi-Shaurya – Parv Parakram ka’ will be held at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi on January 23-24. The Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs are jointly organising the event, with Indian Coast Guard being the coordinating agency. It will witness 10 Military Tattoo performances and 20 Tribal Dances, said the Ministry of Defence.