Amar Jawan Jyoti to be extinguished after 50 years & merged with National War Memorial Flame

Jan. 20: The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate will be extinguished after 50 years and merged with the flame at the National War Memorial here on Friday. It will be merged with the flame at the National War Memorial on Friday as a part of Republic Day celebrations. The National War Memorial is just 400 metres away on the other side of India Gate. The ceremony would be presided over by the Integrated Defence Staff chief Air Marshal Balabadhra Radha Krishna who would merge the two flames.

The Amar Jawan Jyoti was constructed as a memorial for Indian soldiers who were killed in action in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, which India won, leading to the creation of Bangladesh. It was inaugurated by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, on January 26, 1972.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on February 25, 2019, inaugurated the National War Memorial, where names of 25,942 soldiers have been inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets. The National War Memorial spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy and is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict of 1999, besides those killed in the UN peacekeeping missions.