The country's first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Shivangi Singh was part of the Indian Air Force tableau at the Republic Day parade on Wednesday. She is only the second woman fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau. Last year, Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth became the first female fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau, reports Rediff.com.  Singh, who is from Varanasi, joined the IAF in 2017 and was commissioned in the IAF's second batch of women fighter pilots. She had been flying MiG-21 Bison aircraft before flying the Rafale. Read: India reports 286,384 new COVID-19 cases She is part of the IAF's Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Punjab. The IAF tableau was based on the theme -- 'Indian Air Force transforming for the future'. Scaled down models of Rafale fighter jet, indigenously developed light combat helicopter (LCH) and 3D surveillance radar Aslesha MK-1 were part of the float. It also featured a scaled down model of MiG-21 aircraft that played a major role in the 1971 war in which India defeated Pakistan, leading to the creation of Bangladesh, as well as a model of India's first indigenously developed aircraft Gnat. Read: India marks 73rd Republic Day with pompous parade The first batch of Rafale fighter jets arrived on July 29, 2020, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore. So far, 32 Rafale jets have been delivered to the IAF and four are expected by April this year.

For the second consecutive year, India will not have a foreign leader as the chief guest at its Republic Day parade. Sources told UNB that a tentative decision was taken not to invite a foreign dignitary as the chief guest at this year's Republic Day parade due to the rising cases of Covid in the country. Last year too, India did not have a foreign leader as the chief guest at its Republic Day parade -- for the first time in five decades. India honours January 26 every year, the day on which the country's Constitution came into effect in 1950, replacing the Government of India Act (1935) as the governing document and thus, turning the nation into a newly formed republic. Aslo read: Indian MP Shashi Tharoor, 6 journos booked for sedition over Republic Day rampage However, like last year, India has decided to scale down the Republic Day parade this year in the wake of Covid. The spectator strength has been brought down to 24,000 from 1,15,000 in pre-Covid times, sources said. Last year, India invited British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the Republic Day parade, but he cancelled his visit a fortnight before amid a surge in Covid cases at home. In 1966 too, India did not invite any foreign leader was due to the sudden demise of then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, following which Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the country's first female PM on January 24 that year, two days ahead of Republic Day. Also read: Bangladeshi tri-service contingent leads India's Republic Day parade

For the first time in over five decades, India will not have a foreign leader as the chief guest at its Republic Day parade.