smiles, sanitizers welcome rafale to feature in republic

NEW DELHI, Jan 18:

The newly inducted Rafalefighter aircraft will feature inIndia's Republic Day parade onJanuary 26 and culminate the fly-past by carrying out the 'VerticalCharlie' formation, the Indian AirForce (IAF) said today.

In the 'Vertical Charlie' for-mation, the aircraft flies at lowaltitude, pulls up vertically andconducts rolls before stabilisingat higher altitude.

"The flypast will culminatewith a single Rafale aircraft carry-ing out a 'Vertical Charlie' forma-tion," IAF spokesperson WingCommander Indranil Nandi saidat a press conference here.

In a major boost to India's airpower capability, five French-made multirole Rafale fighterjets were inducted into the IAFon September 10 last year.

A total of 38 IAF aircraft andfour planes of the Indian Armywill participate in the flypast onJanuary 26, Nandi said.

As is traditionally the case,the spokesperson said, the fly-past will be divided into twoblocks – the first is plannedalong with the parade from 1004hours to 1020 hours and the sec-ond after the parade from 1120hours to 1145 hours.

In the first block, there willbe three formations. The firstwill be the 'Nishan' formationcomprising of four Mi17V5 air-craft that will carry the nationalflag and logos of all three serv-ices, Nandi said.

It will be followed by the'Dhruv' formation by four heli-copters of Army Aviation Corps,

he said.The last would be the 'Rudra'

formation which will celebratethe 50th anniversary of the coun-try's victory in the 1971 war, hesaid, adding that it will consist ofa single Dakota aircraft flankedby two Mi17V5 helicopters.

On December 16 last year,India launched year-long cele-brations of its victory overPakistan in the 1971 war that ledto the creation of Bangladesh.

Nandi said the second blockof the flypast will consist ofnine formations.

These nine formations are'Sudarshan', 'Rakshak', 'Bhim','Netra', 'Garuda', 'Eklavya','Trinetra', 'Vijay' and'Brahmastra', he said.

One Rafale along with twoJaguar and MiG-29 aircraft eachwill conduct the 'Eklavya' for-mation in the second block ofthe flypast, he said.

Wing Commander Tej PratapPandey said models of LightCombat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas andindigenously developed anti-tankguided missile Dhruvastra willfeature in the IAF's Republic Dayparade tableaus.

"It (tableaus) will showcasescaled-down models of LightCombat Aircraft Tejas, LightCombat Helicopter (LCH),Sukhoi-30Mki and Rohiniradar," he said.

Indigenously developednext-generation anti-radiationmissile Rudram and anti-tankguided missile Dhruvastra willbe displayed on the LCA and theLCH respectively, Pandeysaid.(PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 18:

Balloons, flowers, sanitisersand smiling faces welcomedclass 10 and 12 students inschools in the national capitalon Monday as they returned tocampuses after over 10 months.

The students who were elat-ed to be able toattend the firstoffline class of theacademic sessionwore masks andqueued up outsideschools maintain-ing social distance.

Schools reope-ned on Mondayafter over 10months of beingclosed in view ofcoronavirus pan-demic. Delhi ChiefMinister ArvindKejriwal said it was an emotion-al moment to see children backin school.

"Seeing kids back in schoolafter a long time, is an emotion-al moment for me. Schools havereopened today after leavingbehind a very difficult time. Weare hopeful that soon, every-thing will be normal and all stu-dents will be able to come toschools and meet their teachersand friends," he tweeted.

Pragati Diwan, an excited class12 student said, "it was optional tocome but I was sure I have to. It isthe last year of my school life andI haven't come to school even oneday," said Pragati Diwan, an excit-ed class 12 student.

For another student at GeetaBal Bharti School, the feelingwas similar to that of attendingfirst day at school.

"It does not feel like I am com-ing to school after ten months, itfeels like I have come to school forthe first time. I am looking forwardto the preparations for boardexams here," she said.

Prince, a student at Delhigovernment school, said, "Theonline classes were a great helpfor theoretical subjects but thepractical subjects were a chal-lenge. I am glad to be back atschool so the practical conceptswill be easily brushed up beforethe board exams".

The school put up posters of"welcome back" in corridorswhere teachers stood with sani-tisers and checked the tempera-ture of each student before let-ting them in.

Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalayain Mandawali decorated thepremises with balloons and theteachers showered flower petalson students, welcoming them.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia also visited aschool in Chirag Enclave onMonday to assess the readinessof schools to welcome class 10and 12 students.

"Felt really good to meet chil-dren in schools after a long time.They are still adjusting to beingback in school with safety normsbut are extremely happy to meettheir friends. The teachers are alsooverjoyed to meet students, say-ing it has filled an empty space intheir life," Sisodia said.(PTI)

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Smiles, sanitizers welcome students as schools reopen

A teacher taking a class after schoolsreopened in Delhi.

Rafale to feature in Republic Day parade for first time