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Friday, January 30, 2026
TopicBeating the retreat

Topic: Beating the retreat

Indian popular tunes that are pushing out colonial martial music at Beating the Retreat

The Beating the Retreat ceremony this year featured Bollywood songs like Lakshya and Ae Mere Pyaare Watan.

Beating the Retreat — a musical military tradition celebrating the Republic for 7 decades

Tracing its origins to early 1950s, Beating the Retreat is held on 29 January at Vijay Chowk every year to conclude Republic Day celebrations.

J Ranade on India-China’s ‘cosmetic’ ties, Valson Thampu calls out ‘arbitrary exclusion’

The best of the day’s opinion, chosen and curated by ThePrint’s top editors.

‘Focus on more Indian tunes’ — Vande Mataram to replace Abide With Me at Beating Retreat

Abide With Me has traditionally concluded annual 45-minute performance of military music as last event of Republic Day celebrations at Vijay Chowk in Delhi.

Pakistani cricketer’s thigh-tapping antic is the latest ‘fake show’ at Wagah border

Introduced in 1959, the 45-minute flag-lowering ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border was a low-key affair for decades but now draws hundreds of visitors daily.

On Camera

India’s tech ambitions need private sector investment in R&D. Budget 2026 holds the key

India’s private sector remains hesitant to invest in R&D. This is understandable, as the domestic market often fails to reward differentiated technologies adequately.

More states giving out cash transfers. They aren’t substitutes for investments: Economic Survey

Number of states implementing unconditional cash transfers increased fivefold between FY23 and FY26, half of them estimated to be in revenue deficit, report says.

‘LCA man’ Ravi Kota, key in operationalisation of IAF’s Tejas fleet, picked as next HAL CMD

Mechanical engineer & alumnus of IIM-A & IAS France, Kota was General Manager in HAL’s Light Combat Aircraft division. He was selected from a pool of eight candidates.

Non-alignment is coming back in a new avatar: Trump-peedit alliance

No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.