India showcases military strength at Republic Day

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - India on Sunday showcased its military strength at an event marking the country’s 71st Republic Day.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest at the event held in the capital New Delhi. This was the third time that India invited a Brazilian president as the chief guest at the Republic Day event.

During the event, the newly inducted Chinook heavy lift and Apache attack choppers were put on display for the first time.

Another feature of the program was a contingent of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) women bikers, who performed daredevil stunts.

Elaborate security arrangements were made for the Republic Day, with multi-layered ground-to-air security cover at the main venue. More than 10,000 security personnel were deployed for the security of the Republic Day celebrations, according to police officials.

Apart from that CCTV cameras and facial recognition devices, anti-aircraft guns were installed to avoid any untoward incident.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to soldiers who died fighting for the country.

On Saturday, India and Brazil signed 15 agreements to boost cooperation in different areas between the two countries which Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to as a "new chapter opened".

Bilateral trade between India and Brazil increased to $8.2 billion in 2018-19. Indian investments in Brazil were around $6 billion and Brazilian investments in India were estimated at $1 billion in 2018.