R-Day: Army Chief felicitates Indian Army contingents and bands for outstanding performances

New Delhi [India], January 31 (ANI): Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday felicitated the Indian Army contingents and bands for their outstanding performances on Republic Day 2025 and the Beating Retreat Ceremony, said the Indian Army in a statement.
Best Marching Contingent Award was clinched by the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and the Jat Regiment secured the runner-up position.
The award for Best Military Band was presented to the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre and 14 Gorkha Training Centre was the runner-up. While the Best Pipe Band award went to the Madras Regimental Centre and the Sikh Regimental Centre was awarded the Runners-up award.

Interacting with the troops, Gen Dwivedi applauded all participants for their efforts and exhorted them to strive for excellence, the statement read.
Notably, three panels of judges were constituted to assess the performance of Marching Contingents from the Services and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), other auxiliary forces and tableaux from various States and Union Territories (UTs), Ministries and Departments of the Central Government.
Apart from that an online poll was also conducted on the MyGov portal from January 26 to 28, 2025 for the citizens to vote for their favourite tableau and Marching Contingents as 'Popular Choice Category.
Uttar Pradesh tableaux showcasing the 'Mahakumbh 2025 - Swarnim Bharat: Virasat aur Vikas' won the first prize at the 76th Republic Day celebrations held at Kartavya Path on January 26.
In the Popular Choice Category, the best Tableaux was won by Gujarat (Swarnim Bharat: Virasat Aur Vikas). Uttar Pradesh's Tableaux (Mahakumbh 2025 - Swarnim Bharat: Virasat aur Vikas) won the second prize. The third prize was backed by Uttarakhand for the Tableaux 'Uttarakhand: Cultural Heritage and Adventure Sports'.
The best tableau from Central Ministries/Departments went to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (Multifaceted journey of women and children nurtured under the Ministry's comprehensive schemes). (ANI)