Amar Jawan Jyoti Merged With National War Memorial Flame

22 January 2022 Current Affairs:The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at Delhi's India Gate will be merged with the flame of the adjacent National War Memorial on January 21, 2022, forward with Republic Day.

Highlights:

• The flame of the Amar Jawan Jyoti at Delhi's India Gate will be merged with the flame of the adjacent National War Memorial on January 21, 2022, forward with Republic Day. 
• The ceremony was presided over by Air Marshal Balabadhra Radha Krishna, chief of the Integrated Defence Staff. 
• The decision to merge the two flames was made with the knowledge that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti paid tribute to the martyrs of 1971, but none of their identities are present there, whereas the names of all Indian martyrs from all wars, such as 1971 and wars before and after it, are housed at the National War Memorial.
• So keeping the flame in the same place as the names will be a fitting tribute to the martyrs. This will also eliminate the need to maintain two flames for the same purpose. 
• This means that the flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti will be extinguished after 50 years of constant lightning.

Amar Jawan Jyoti:

• The Amar Jawan Jyoti was officially launched by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Republic Day in 1972. 
• The Amar Jawan Jyoti eternal flame was lit in remembrance of soldiers who died during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

National War Memorial:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the National War Memorial on February 25, 2019. The memorial's eternal torch burns inside the Amar Chakra at the heart of the Smarak Stambh, the memorial's main pillar.
• On granite tablets, the names of 25,942 soldiers have already been enshrined in gold letters.