Republic Day 2023: India's anti-drug agency, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), made its Republic Day parade debut on Kartavya Path this year, showcasing a tableau with the message 'Resolve At 75: Drug-Free India'. The tableau encourages Indians to say no to drugs, and carries the message 'Together We Can Do It'.
The tableau was accompanied by some NCB personnel and two members of its canine squad, when it filled down the Kartavya Path.
The NCB is the nodal agency for drug law enforcement in India, and comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
All about NCB’s R-Day tableau
Ahead of NCB's parade debut, the agency's Deputy Director General Monika Batra said the tableau has the message mounted on top, 'Nasha Mukt Bharat', and a group of people standing in front of it. The people are wearing different costumes of India, holding their arms out, with a banner placed below bearing the message — 'Together We Can Do It'.
Batra also said that the group of people represented from diverse cultural backgrounds is to portray that together, "we can keep our country safe from the drug menace".
The front of the NCB tableau represents a symbolic gesture of 'no' with hands crossed.
According to Batra, the crossed hands show that India is saying 'no to drugs'. She also said that the tableau showcases the intelligence and technology that NCB uses to detect drugs.
German Shepherds 'Limbo' and 'Jelly' are the canine members of the NCB accompanying the tableau.
Limbo is a four-year-old German Shepherd, while Jelly is over five years of age, a handler of Jelly said. Both Limbo and Jelly have helped detect consignment of drugs in the past.
The Ministry of Home Affairs displayed two tableaux — one by the NCB and the other by the Central Armed Police Forces.
The Union Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Culture and the Central Public Works Department, that falls under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, also presented one tableau each on Kartavya Path.