The country will celebrate 79th Independence Day on August 15, Friday. The main event in the capital Delhi will be held at the Red Fort, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the tricolor as per tradition and address the nation. This will be his 12th consecutive Independence Day address. Recently, PM Modi has broken Indira Gandhi’s record in terms of consecutive tenure and will now be second after Jawaharlal Nehru in making the most consecutive speech from the Red Fort. This time, there is a possibility of emphasis on national security, economic development and welfare schemes of the government in his speech. Last year, PM Modi in his 98 -minute speech raised issues like Uniform Civil Code (UCC), 75,000 new medical seats, women empowerment and cleanliness.

Special guests will be sarpanch of 85 villages
This year, sarpanches of 85 villages of 26 states and union territories have been called as special guests in the ceremony. These are the panchayats which have been declared Jal village under the ODF Plus and Jal Life Mission under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin. These include Prema Devi, the head of Motipur Gram Panchayat of Samastipur, Bihar, Sarpanch Kusum Singh of Rarah Gram Panchayat of Bharatpur, Rajasthan, Sasikant Bhupendrabhai Patel of Sultanpur, Gujarat and Deepali Uttam Uttam Uttam Uttam Uttam Uttam Chougule, Sarpanch of Dumala Gram Panchayat, Kolhapur, Maharashtra. These sarpanches have made their villages models with the initiative like waste production, water management, plastic restrictions, Braille -signed community toilets and solid waste separation.

Red fort and surrounding tight security
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in and around the Red Fort. More than 11,000 security personnel and 3,000 traffic policemen will be deployed. Snipers, roof monitoring teams and anti-drain units will be deployed on tall buildings. CCTV cameras, face recognition systems, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and Under-Vehicle Surveillance System (UVSS) will be used for the first time. Special equipment has been installed at five parking sites for lower checkup of vehicles. Delhi Police, Army and Paramilitary Forces have together formed a security layer of several levels. Railway stations, bus stands, airports, metro stations, water purification plants and patrolling along the Yamuna have been increased. Cyber unit is monitoring possible threats or rumors on social media.

Minute-to-minute program

7:30 am – Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reach the Red Fort. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and senior officials will welcome. Guard of Honor will be given.
7:35 am – After inspecting PM Modi Guard of Honor, the flying officer will hoist the tricolor with the help of Rashika Sharma. 21 cannon salutes will be given from 1721 field batteries.
7:37 am – There will be a national salute and national anthem, which will be played by 11 Agniveer musicians of Air Force band.
7:40 am -Two Mi-17 helicopters will rain flowers. One helicopter tricolor and the other will fly with the flag of Operation Sindoor.
7:45 am – The speech of the Prime Minister will begin, in which the priorities, achievements and future plans of the government will be discussed.
8:15 am – 2,500 NCC cadets and ‘My India’ volunteers will sing national anthem.
In the evening – There will be military band presentations at more than 140 places across the country. The logo and theme of Operation Sindoor will also be displayed in the program.

Traffic and root plan
Delhi Traffic Police has imposed traffic restrictions on several roads from 4 am to 10 am. The movement of common vehicles on the Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Netaji Subhash Marg, Lothian Road, SP Mukherjee Marg and Ring Road will be closed. Alternative routes include Outer Ring Road, Aurobindo Marg, Safdarjung Road, Pant Marg, Kamal Ataturk Marg, Mata Rani Jhansi Road, Vikas Marg and Wazirabad Bridge. The entry of commercial vehicles has been stopped from 10 pm on August 14.

Weather and theme
According to the Meteorological Department, on August 15, Delhi will be cloudy and light rain may occur. The maximum temperature is estimated to be 31–33 degrees and the minimum is estimated to be 23–25 degrees Celsius. This year’s theme is ‘New India’. The Ministry of Water Power and the Ministry of Culture together are running every house tricolor, every house cleanliness campaign, so that water, sanitation and health (WASH) can be associated with national pride.