The 76th Army Day was celebrated in the chilly morning hours here on Monday, for the first time out of Delhi.

The ceremony was organised at the parade ground of the 11 Gorkha Rifles Regimental Centre under the command of Major General Salil Seth where six marching contingents participated.

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The COAS reviewed the parade and presented gallantry awards to the selected officers and jawans.

The 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade, Sikh Light Infantry, Jat Regiment, Garhwal Rifles, Bengal Engineer Group and the Army Air Defence were among the six marching contingents at the parade.

The five regimental brass/military bands included the Punjab Regiment Centre, Grenadier Regimental Centre, Bihar Regiment Centre, Sikh Light Regiment Centre, Kumaon Regimental Centre and Sikh Regimental Centre.

In his address to the troops, General Pande said the Army was fully prepared and capable of dealing with any challenge and have taken many concrete steps to develop country’s capabilities on the northern borders.

General Pande asserted that today, the country stood on the brink of a new era, adding, “We all have set a vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ as our country completes 100 years of independence, for which a secure environment is essential and Indian Army plays a vital role in achieving it.

“There have been advances in automation, digitisation and networking to make our systems and functions more efficient. In this, we have got more benefits in areas like operational situational awareness, decision support system, management information system and human resource management. Agnipath scheme is an important step in the field of human resource management. Our efforts are continuing in nation building work especially in the border areas. We are taking our efforts forward by linking them with the projects of the state and central governments” he said.

The parade was followed by a skydiving display and daredevil jumps by the paratroopers, a daredevil motorcycle display by the Corps of Signals Daredevil team and a fly-past by helicopters of the Army Aviation Corps consisting of the ALH Dhruv and the ALH Rudra helicopters.

The HAL Rudra (Sanskrit – Roaring) also known as ALH-WSI, is an armed version of the HAL Dhruv utility helicopter.