Services Chiefs Lay Wreath At National War Memorial On Third Anniversary | Know History & Significance

The National War Memorial was Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 25, 2019.

Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar along with Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari lay wreaths at National War Memorial (NWM) in Delhi on its third anniversary today.

The National War Memorial was Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 25, 2019. The memorial has names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets as a tribute.

Last month, the  Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate was put out and merged with the eternal flame at the National War Memorial. The move created huge political furore with opposition leaders claiming it as disrespect to the soldiers killed fighting for the country.

History Of NWM And Significance

The National War Memorial is built to honour the soldiers killed defending the country during the Sino-Indian war in 1962, the Indo-Pak wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force operations in Sri Lanka and the Kargil Conflict in 1999.

Spread over 40 acres of land, the memorial is built around the existing canopy near India Gate, New Delhi. A global design competition was conducted by the government before starting the construction. The bid was won by a Chennai-based architectural firm WeBe Design Lab's that designed the memorial and worked in coordination with the builders during the project.

In order to speed up construction work, the project, was allocated to a Special Projects Division under the Chief Administrative Officer (Ministry of Defence).

The National War Memorial was conceptualised after the Indo-China war in 1962, but it was in 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power and promised to build the memorial.

After PM Modi made the announcement, a proposal was finally passed in October 2015 and Rs 500 crore allocated to build the memorial and a museum. The government sanctioned Rs 176 crore for the monument alone.

The UPA government in 2006 had constituted a Group of Minister (GoM) to look into the demands of building a National War Memorial. After almost six years the GoM in 2012 gave a nod for its construction, but the then Delhi chief minister Shiela Dixit opposed the proposal claiming the ambiance around India Gate to be affected. The project was then put on hold until PM Modi announced to build it.