National War Memorial

Context:

Sharing a video tweet from Table Tennis player Manika Batra of her visit to National War Memorial, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi urged everyone to visit National War Memorial.

The National War Memorial in India is a national monument built to honour and remember soldiers of the Indian military who fought in armed conflicts of independent India.
The names of armed forces personnel killed during the armed conflicts with Pakistan and China as well as the 1961 War in Goa, Operation Pawan, and other operations such as Operation Rakshak are inscribed on the memorial walls in golden letters.
This monument is spread over 40 acres of land and was built by the Government of India around the existing chhatri (canopy), near India Gate, New Delhi.
The memorial wall is flushed with the ground and in harmony with existing aesthetics.
It was completed in January 2019 and unveiled on 25 February 2019 in an inauguration ceremony held at the monument where Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in the presence of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of India, and the three Chief of Staffs of the Indian Armed Forces, ignited the eternal flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flames of Eternal Soldiers) at the Amar Chakra under the main obelisk of the monument.
The old Amar Jawan Jyoti, located at India Gate, previously served as the national war memorial.
It was constructed in a short time frame following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971as per Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s wishes, so that it could be inaugurated on 26 January 1972 as a mark of respect to the martyrs of the war.

A global design competition was conducted and the result was announced in early April 2017.
A Chennai-based architectural firm WeBe Design Lab’s proposal was declared the winner and was accordingly chosen for the conceptualization of the architectural design and for coordinating the construction of the project.
The chief architect, Yogesh Chandrahasan, of WeBe Design Lab, was inspired by the thought of creating a memorial to celebrate and honour sacrifices as compared to a place to mourn them.
The National War Memorial and Museum was designated as a Special Project, and the task of its “timely execution” was allocated to a Special Projects Division under the Chief Administrative Officer (Ministry of Defense), and the Military Engineer Services.

Source: THE HINDU.