National
Curtailed Army Day celebration
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 15. For the first time in 53 years, the tense situation on the border and unseasonal rain led to a curtailed Army Day celebration today. The main attraction of the day, the parade, was missing both here and at the Command headquarters elsewhere owing to the massive troop deployment on the western border.
However in the national capital, top dignitaries went through the formalities including the laying of wreaths at Amar Jawan Jyoti - the tomb of unknown soldiers in India Gate - by the three service chiefs, S. Padmanabhan, S. Krishnaswamy and Madhvendera Singh.
Later in the day, the President, K.R. Narayanan, the Vice-President, Krishan Kant, and the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, attended an `at home' hosted by Gen. Padmanabhan, at his official residence to mark the day.
The Army Day commemorates late Field Marshal B.C. Cariappa's taking over as the first Indian commander-in-chief of the armed forces in 1949.
Takes charge PTI reports:
John Colin de Silva today took over as the Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff at the naval headquarters here.
Vice-Admiral De Silva was earlier the Flag Officer commanding-in-chief Eastern Naval Command.
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