2017 Republic Day Parade will see 23 tableaux on the Rajpath

2017 Republic Day Parade will see 23 tableaux on the Rajpath in Delhi and, 17 of these will display the unique cultural heritage, festivals, rituals and art forms of the states. Remaining six will be from the central ministries showing recent landmark initiatives.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 23 January 2017.

Jammu and Kashmir will showcase the snowy peaks of Gulmarg on its float in an effort to woo tourists for winter sports

Maharashtra is celebrating the 160th anniversary of Lokmanya Tilak - it will depict the landmarks in his life like starting the newspaper Kesari, initiating Ganeshotsav and going to Mandalay jail

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Karnataka, Punjab, Tripura and Tamil Nadu will be showcasing their traditional dance forms

Haryana will promote Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao - it will have achievements of women like astronaut Kalpana Chawla, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik and paralympic champion Deepa Malik

Gujarat will focus on the art and lifestyle of the Kutch region

Odisha will display Dol Jatra

West Bengal will come with Sharad Utsav

Assam will show the Kamakhya temple

Union territory of Lakshadweep will make a return after 23 years - it will showcase the 'unexplored tourist destination' comprising 36 islands

It will be the first time that a float by National Housing Bank will be shown. It will be the float of Khadi India and it is understood that it will avoid images of both Mahatma Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi. The float will focus on traditional weavers and modern attire made of the hand-woven cloth

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has created its tableau on GST, which is touted as the biggest tax reform since Independence

Tableaux of Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh failed to secure a place this year

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Tejas Light Combat Aircraft to debut at the 2017 Republic Day parade

The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft is the home-grown fighter jet of India and will make its debut at the 2017 Republic Day parade on January 26.
The government has tweaked rules for a ceremonial flypast by waiving off a security condition which states that single engine aircraft were not permitted at the Republic Day flypast over Rajpath where VVIPs and an audience watch the march-past and the flypast.
This is because twin-engine aircraft were better suited for such events and are more likely to survive and be safer for watching crowds if one engine of a plane fails.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 20 January 2017.

The Tejas fighters will take-off from Bikaner in Rajasthan to fly over Delhi for the event. Tejas is the first advanced "fly-by-wire" fighter aircraft which is designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and produced by defence public sector Hindustan Aeronautics.
Incidentally, Tejas have still not got "Final Operational Certificate" in spite of having being initiated more than four decades back and, despite having being flown for more than 3000 hours without major mishap.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Himachal Pradesh to share space in Republic Day parade at Rajpath, New Delhi.

Himachal Pradesh will finally get to share space with other states at the Republic Day parade at Rajpath, New Delhi, after a long wait of four years. It was in 2013 last, that the state had exhibited the rich tribal culture of Kinnaur district.
The opportunity has now come again to showcase its rich cultural heritage through its R-Day tableaux list and, the break has brought cheers to the people.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 6 January 2017.

The state authorities had submitted five models of tableaux and the one on the ‘Chamba Rumal’ impressed the selection committee and was approved. Himachal Pradesh, thus, becomes one of the 15 states and UTs selected for showcasing their tableau in the R-Day parade this year.
In 2013, Himachal Pradesh had got an opportunity to exhibit the rich tribal culture of Kinnaur district. Earlier, in 2007, it had showcased the monasteries and monks of Lahaul and Spiti, and in 1998, the Raghunath Chariot of Dussehra festivity of Kullu.
Incidentally, in 1993, it won an award in the tableau round for showcasing tourist enjoying snowfall and also an appreciation award for the tableau on famous Rock temples of Masrur.


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Yak Dance of Arunachal Pradesh will be seen this Republic Day on the Rajpath

This Republic Day will be a special one for Arunachal Pradesh - the famous Yak Dance of the state will be seen this Republic Day as one of the tableau on the Rajpath in New Delhi. This Yak Dance has been selected for presentation during the forthcoming Republic Day parade on January 26.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 22 December 2016.

Yak dance is a famous pantomime of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism. The masked dancer represents the members of a family who discovered the Yak with the help of a magical bird hundreds of years ago. It is performed during the Losar festival and the dance represents the joy of the people upon finding the yak and their belief that performing the dance would relieve them of all their miseries.
Fifteen states and union territories have been selected this year to present their tableaux. Arunachal Pradesh is one of the selected states with only two other states from the northeast - Manipur and Tripura.


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India plans to bowl the world over with Yoga - preparations on for 2nd edition

Buoyed by the tremendous response received to the International Yoga Day last year, a repeat performance appears to be on the cards for this year. The Modi government is pulling out all stops to ensure that this time around the event will be an equally impressive one.
It will be scheduled in June and would be a one hour long Yoga protocol as compared to 45 muteness of last year. And, in order to ensure smooth participation by foreigners, advanced yoga retreats would be set up in scenic locations in he country and there would be a mass Yoga demonstration in one of the BJP-ruled states.
Moreover, the government wants to ensure a "100% participation" by all institutes including the IITs, NITs and IISERs with a special 4-minute long 'Yoga Geet' which is to be sung out aloud.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 February 2016.

The next Yoga day will be celebrated with considerable fanfare. It has been decided to increase the duration of the common Yoga protocol from the 45 minute long duration practiced last year to an hour long one this time. The additional 15 minutes will be for 'institutional Yoga practice' which will be 'preferably Pranayama, Dhyana, Yoga Nidra and Satsanga'.
In addition, a week long "advanced Yoga retreats and camps" will be organized for foreigner in April-May period at scenic locations like Goa, Mumbai, Mount Abu, Jaipur, Delhi, Mysore, Rishikesh and other tourist destinations. In order to organize these, a token financial assistance will be provided by the Department of AYUSH to leading Yoga institutions.
Last year, the venue was Rajpath in New Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated. This year, a similar "major mass Yoga demonstration program on the lines of the International Conference on Yoga" are planned to be organised in one of the BJP ruled states — namely, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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India sets two Guinness World Records on International Yoga Day at Rajpath

#InternationalYogaDay #Rajpath #NarendraModi Hats off to Prime Minister Narendra Modi – first for getting the UN to agree to accept that 21 June be declared as the International Day of Yoga. His next achievement was to bag two Guinness World Records for organizing a mega event on the occasion at Rajpath, New Delhi.
This has been reported in zeenews.com dated 21 June 2015.

The two records were for 'Largest number of participants' at 35,985 and 'Most number of nationalities' at 84. The earlier figures were 29973 and 49 respectively. The awards were presented to the Ministry of AYUSH by the representatives of Guinness World Records Ms Victoria from UK and Mr. Marco Frigatti from Italy.
The previous Guinness record was held by Vivekananda Kendra which organized a yoga event in Gwalior in 1995 in which 29,973 people had participated. Rajpath breaks that record after 20 years.
AYUSH is the acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy. The Ministry of AYUSH was formed in 9th November 2014 for providing more healthcare to the public.
Incidentally – there are a couple of other exercises like aerobics and pilates that also help to keep people fit and are equally effective. Read more about this here.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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International Yoga Day, India and a probable Guinness World Record

#InternationalYogaDay #UN4Yoga #GuinnessWorldRecord #Rajpath Designating the 21st of June as the International Yoga Day by the United Nations was a feather in the cap of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and, efforts to celebrate it in a befitting manner in India and enter the portals of the Guinness Book of World Records would be the icing on the cake.
On the occasion, reps of Guinness Book and Ernst & Young auditors are likely to be present during the 35-minute demonstration and, the record could be assigned to only one category even though three categories had been proposed.
This has been reported in dnaindia.com dated 4 June 2015.

The Ayush ministry had approached the Guinness Book on three counts – (i) maximum number of people performing yoga at a single venue, (ii) maximum number of people from different nationalities doing yoga at the same time and (iii) maximum number of people doing yoga at the same time across India.
Guinness has rejected the second and third proposals since it would be difficult to assess the number of people doing yoga across the country or in different countries.
The venue would be on the Rajpath in New Delhi and people from all walks of life are expected to join in the event – the presence of celebrities of the silver screen and politicians would make for an interesting photo ops session. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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