Mysuru: The 69th Republic Day was celebrated in city yesterday in a grand manner. While all schools and colleges celebrated the day by holding special flag hoisting ceremonies and parades, the main event was organised by the District Administration at Torchlight Parade Grounds in Bannimantap where District in-Charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa unfurled the National Flag.

After accepting the ceremonial Guard of Honour and after inspecting the parade in an open jeep, the Minister spoke about the Indian Constitution. He said, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar played an important role in drafting the Constitution and thus Indian Constitutional Supremacy, Parliamentary Supremacy, Judicial Supremacy, are its hallmarks.

Calling for a critical evaluation of the socio-economic progress made by the country in the last seven decades, the Minister said that one must re-dedicate oneself to create a greater egalitarian society.

“Socio-economic inequalities in society have not been bridged while atrocities against backward classes, Dalits, women, children and minorities have continued. Ambedkar’s dream of an egalitarian society was yet to be realised and one has to rededicate to the values enshrined in the Constitution to achieve the same,” he said.

“The country will thrive and democracy will be meaningful only if there is social and economic equality,” he said. In this context, he said, the State Government was committed towards the creation of a more egalitarian society and had hence launched a series of welfare programmes for the benefit of the weaker sections of society.

The comprehensive development of rural areas and socio-economic empowerment of the people was possible only through implementation of ideals and values propounded by Mahatma Gandhi, Mahadevappa said and called for the strengthening of the agriculture sector.

Awards presented

Mahadevappa presented ‘Sarvothama Seva’ award to six Government officials for their distinguished service. Mysuru District Industries Centre Joint Director Ramakrishnegowda, Deputy Director for Tourism H.P. Janardhan, Mysuru City Corporation Revenue Officer Arasu Kumari, veterinarian Dr. D.N. Nagaraj, Deputy Tahsildar of Chikkayyana Chatra Hobli S.R. Rampriyan and Nagaraj of Mysuru District Treasury were honoured. Similarly, Mohammed Shafiullah and Dharanesh were feted with ‘Jeeva   Rakshaka’ award for helping accident victims.

In all, 28 teams comprising various units from the armed forces including the KSRP, City Armed Reserve, DAR, RPF, CISF, Traffic Police, Women’s Police, NCC, Scouts and Guides, Bharath Seva Dal, etc. took part in the parade. The band section comprised an ensemble from the KSRP, DAR and CAR who performed patriotic numbers.

Cultural show

Choreographed group dances were presented as part of the cultural programme by students of different schools to mark the celebrations. About 350 students of DAV School danced to ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’ followed by a presentation by 350 students of Ideal Jawa School who performed to ‘Jai Ho’. This was followed by similar performances to patriotic numbers by 450 students from St. Thomas School and 300 students of SVEI School.

Best Parade

At the parade, B. Prakash, Sub-Inspector, Railway Protection Force unit, bagged the first place for performance while Pooja Hathharaki of Women’s Police unit bagged the second place and RSI Chandrappa from City Armed Reserve bagged the third place.

In the unarmed category, S. Ahnikar of NCC Air Wing unit bagged the first place, ESI Venkatesh of Excise unit was accorded the second place and B.A. Pramod of NCC Naval wing won the third place. In the school category, Milind S. Prasad of Police Public School bagged the first place, Manoj from Jawahar Boys School bagged the second place while Thejaswi of Jawahar Girls School stood third.

Panther Mysuru City Commandoes presented an attractive anti-terror operation. It was led by RPI Ashok Kumar. Shivaraj and Kumar bagged the awards in assembling of gun blindfolded and assembling of gun using just one hand.

Zilla Panchayat President Nayeema Sulthana, Mayor B. Bhagyavathi, Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council Marithibbegowda, Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep, ZP CEO P. Shivashankar and Additional Deputy Commissioner T. Yogesh were present.

Other celebrations

Mysuru Division of the South Western Railway (SWR) celebrated the Republic Day. Railway Manager Atul Gupta unfurled the National Flag in a ceremony attended by Railway employees and their family members.

Members of Sri Sumathinath Jain Navyuvak Mandal celebrated the day at Bal Bhavan and had arranged food for more than 6,000 people, including schoolchildren, Police and the general public. Committee members Sanjay Chauhan, Amit Jain, Anand Salecha, Kamlesh Kawad, Lalith Rathod, Tejraj Jain, Suresh Jain, Bharat Jain, Amit Rathod, and Mahendra Jain were present.