Fly-past to be tweaked to reflect PM’S ‘Act East’ policy

NEW DELHI : The flag of Asean would fly in the sky this Republic Day with Mi-17 V5 helicopters, the first in the fly past on January 26, sporting the standard of the regional intergovernmental organisation along with the Indian flag and flags of the three forces.

The first for mation in the R-day parade will be an “Ensign” formation with five Mi-17 V5 choppers. The first chopper would fly the national flag, followed by the second one which will have the Asean flag, tailed by three more with the flags of Army, Navy and Air Force. The fly past at the Republic Day parade this year will have 38 aircraft participating, against 35 last year. It will include four Dhruv helicopters of Army Aviation Corps.

For the first time, the indigenous ‘eye in the sky’, indigenous Airborne Early War ning and Control System (AEWACS) ‘Netra’ will fly over the Rajpath. T he AEWACS, which is mounted on a Brazilian Embraer jet, will be flanked by two Su-30 fighter jets.

The flypast will altogether have 21 fighter jets, 12 helicopters and five transport aircraft. A tableau of the Indian Air Force (IAF), themed on ‘encouraging indigenisation’ will meanwhile focus on Make in India, and will have on display scaled down models of LCA Tejas, Rudra helicopter, Akash missile system, and Arudhra radar.

A tableau on veterans of the forces will meanwhile have a statue of Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh, who passed away on September 16, 2017. NEW DELHI : In a visual treat, Kathak and folk dances of Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries will be seen together this Republic Day, as a group of students of a school here will perform during the parade.

They will be among the 770 students who will take part in the grand celebration at Rajpath on January 26.

“Most students are from Classes 8, 9 and 11, and a few students from Class 7 also. They have practised really hard on Rajpath and are now raring to go,” he said,” deputy director (Physical Education), Delhi’s DOE, Har jeet Kaur, said.

Most students are exited to present their performance on Rajpath in front of the leaders from 10 Asean member countries.

Students dressed in traditional costumes take a selfie after rehearsals ahead of the Republic Day in New Delhi. There will be five performances by the students, including two presented by the Directorate of Education, Delhi government, and one each by...