New Delhi: Patriotic fervour has gripped the entire nation as India is celebrating 75th anniversary of Independence on August 15, 2022.
To commemorate this momentous occasion, ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ is being celebrated across the country through a series of events.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the celebrations and deliver the customary address from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort in New Delhi.
Independence Day celebrations is one of the major events of Ministry of Defence and similar to Republic Day 2022, a number of new initiatives have been taken, apart from regular events, to mark 75 years of Independence. These include:
Gun Salute by ATAGS
For the first time, a home-grown howitzer gun, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) prototype, developed under the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, will be used for the ceremonial 21-gun salute during the Independence Day ceremony at Red Fort.
The completely indigenous gun, designed and developed by DRDO, will give the ceremonial 21-Gun Salute along with the British guns which are being traditionally fired till now.
The initiative to use this indigenously developed gun will stand as a testament to India’s growing capacity of developing arms and ammunition indigenously.
The gun has been especially customised, with certain technical specifications being tweaked for the ceremony.
A team of DRDO’s Armament Research & Development Establishment, Pune led by scientists and artillery officers worked in this project to make it possible.
The ATAGS project started in 2013 by DRDO to replace older guns in service in the Indian Army with a modern 155mm artillery gun.
ARDE partnered with two private firms Bharat Forge Limited and Tata Advanced Systems Limited for manufacturing of this specialised gun.
ATAGS is 155mm calibre Gun System with a firing range of 48 kms and advanced features like high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system, automatic command and control system with night capability in direct-fire mode. ATAGS is a world class system which fires the Bimodular charge system in Zone 7.
No other Gun in the world is known to have that capability yet.
This specialised Gun System is compatible with C4I systems like the Artillery Combat Command and Control System called Shakti for technical fire control, fire planning, deployment management, operational logistics management of the Indian Army.
Special invitees
Special Invitations have been sent for Independence Day celebrations this year, as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. NCC cadets from all districts of the country have been invited to attend the main event at Red Fort.
These cadets will be seated at ‘Gyan Path’ in front of the Red Fort's ramparts in a geographical formation of the map of India.
They will adorn local dresses, symbolising India’s cultural diversity, to carry forward the message of ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’.
In continuation to the initiative taken during Republic Day 2022, the section of society, which is usually overlooked, has been invited as special guests for Independence Day as well.
These include anganwadi workers, street vendors, mudra scheme borrowers, mortuary workers etc.
They have been invited to attend the main event at Red Fort.
In the run up to the Independence Day 2022 celebrations, a number of special programmes have been organised. These include:
NCC Youth Exchange Programmes
A special Youth Exchange Programme has been organised between August 09-17, 2022 for the first time as part of Independence Day celebrations.
A total of 26 officers/supervisors and 127 cadets/youths from 14 countries – US, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Fiji, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, The Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, UAE & Uzbekistan – are already in India for the Independence Day celebrations.
Apart from attending the main event at Red Fort, the youth will be visiting places of cultural and historical importance in Delhi and Agra.
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh is scheduled to interact with the youth at NCC, Delhi Cantt in the evening of August 10, 2022.
The youths are also scheduled to meet senior officers of MoD, Armed Forces and NCC, besides interacting with Indian cadets.
The 127 youth have been selected through a nation-wide competition organised in different countries, wherein lakhs of students participated.
Veer Gatha
Felicitation of Super-25 of ‘Veer Gatha’ contest
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh will be felicitating 25 winners of the Veer Gatha contest (SUPER-25) in New Delhi on August 12, 2022.
Veer Gatha, one of the unique projects launched as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ was organised to inspire & spread awareness among children about the gallant deeds and sacrifices of the Armed Forces.
In the nation-wide contest, held between October 21-November 20, 2021, over eight lakh students from 4,788 schools were encouraged to share inspirational stories through essays, poems, drawings and multimedia presentations.
After several rounds of evaluation, 25 students were selected and declared as ‘SUPER-25’. Shri Rajnath Singh will felicitate these SUPER-25 with a cash prize and a citation.
Following the success in the first edition, Veer Gatha 2.0 is all set to be launched in September 2022.
A larger participation of students is expected in this second edition.
