BEATING RETREAT CEREMONY

Jan. 31, 2020

Beating Retreat ceremony was held which marked the culmination of the Republic Day celebrations. The ceremony ended with Abide With Me, said to be Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite.

About:

  • It officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities.

  • It is conducted on the evening of 29 January, the third day after the Republic Day.

  • it is organized by Section D of the Ministry of Defence.

  • It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, and pipe bands from the Army, plus from 2016 a massed formation of bands of the Central Armed Police Forces and the Delhi Police.

  • The venue is Raisina Hills and an adjacent square, Vijay Chowk, flanked by the North and South blocks of the Central Secretariat and the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's Palace) towards the end of Rajpath.

  • The chief guest of the function is the President of India.

  • The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands.

Source : The Hindu