India will get its first National War Memorial after 4 decades
| 12-Feb-2019 |
Though the armed forces had been demanding for a war memorial for the last four decades but none of the previous governments had paid heed on it. Now, the National War Memorial (NWM) will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narender Modi on February 25 that is dedicated to our brave soldiers, who have made supreme sacrifice for the country. The Memorial is located in ‘C Hexagon’ of the India Gate circle. Though the construction of the war memorial should have been completed within six month after the cabinet note was passed in September 2015 but it got delayed due to several reasons.
Construction of NWM started in 2017
The construction began only in 2017 after a global design contest which was won by Chennai-based firm WeBe. Builder of the memorial had to ensure the construction of the memorial as per certain standards. It could not be higher than 1.5 meters above the ground as per the heritage guidelines.
Four concentric circles
The memorial is designed in a series of four concentric circles like the chakras. The eternal flame will be burn in the centre of Amar Chakra. The Veerta Chakra will depict the six battles fought by India after independence. The third Chakra i.e. Tyaag Chakras has two concentric circles with the names of over 22,000 war dead, each name with a bricksized granite plaque. The Raksha Chakra, a circle of trees will depict the unknown soldiers protecting the nation and studded with the bust of the Param Vir Chakra winners. The memorial missed two deadlines around Independence Day last year and Republic Day this year.
National War Memorial (NWM) and One Rank One Pension (OROP) were the two major promises of the BJP in its election manifesto of 2014.