Lok Sabha Question No. 2614 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-04
Subject: National War Memorial
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2614

TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 th  August, 2021

## NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL

## 2614. COL. RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE j{kk ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  outflow  towards  establishing  the  National  War  Memorial  to  commemorate  the gallantry awardees and KIA/ MIA of India;
- (b) whether the Government is considering any web portal for highlighting the valour and courage of gallantry awardees to honour the awardees and inspire the citizens of India;
- (c) if so, the budget planned for such a prestigious and humbling task over the last five years and the details of year wise allocation, expenditure, and agencies involved;
- (d) the initiatives being taken to highlight India's gallantry awardees, the roadmap for the same  including  the  details  of  social  media  initiatives  and  outreach  through  various stakeholders; and
- (e) whether the organizational setup to handle the task is a dedicated organisation or an ad-hoc one and if so, the details and the reasons therefor?

## A    N    S    W    E    R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

(a) The construction cost towards establishing the National War Memorial is Rs. 176.65 Crore  (Rupees  One  Hundred  Seventy  Six  Crore  and  Sixty  Five  Lakhs  only).  Further, Bharat Electronics Limited  has been nominated to execute the project of Enhancement of Digital Appeal at National War Memorial.

(b)  The online portal dedicated to the gallantry award winners has already been created during 2017-18.

(c)  The online portal dedicated to the gallantry award winners has been created during 2017-18  with  an  estimated  expenditure  of  Rs.  7,11,500/  (Rupees  Seven  Lakh  Eleven Thousand and Five Hundred only).

Further  Ministry  of  Defence  has  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Raksha  Rashtriya University (RRU) for improvement of the portal at a monthly payment of Rs. 1,59,000/(One Lakh and Fifty Nine Thousand only). In the FY 2020-21, the expenditure was Rs. 4,77,000/- (Rupees Four Lakh and Seventy Seven Thousand only) and in FY 2021-22 till May  2021,  the  expenditure  was  Rs.  3,18,000/-  (Rupees  Three  Lakh  and  Eighteen Thousand only).

Ministry  of  Defence  has  also  entered  into  a  contract  with  M/s  Broadcasting Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) w.e.f. 01 May 2021 to 30 Apr 2022 @ Rs. 77,172/- per month for deployment of consultant (Social Media) to assist the Ministry in enrichment of Gallantry Awards Portal.

(d)  The Ministry has introduced various modules/activities viz. option of paying tribute, taking pledge, motivational videos, information of war memorials and war histories, eBooks  etc.  Various  public  participative  events  viz.  Quiz  on  Gallantry  Awards,  tribute competition,  logo  design  competition,  live  streaming  of  NCC  activities  at  statues  of Awardees are also conducted from time to time. MoD have also created dedicated social media handles for publicity of activities planned on Gallantry Portal and also Youtube channel for uploading of videos relating to the Awardees.

(e)  Ministry of Defence, in coordination with National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Bhaskaracharya  National  Institute  for  Space  and  Geo-informatics  (BISAG)  (under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology), Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), Armed Forces and NIC, is maintaining the portal to honour the gallantry awardees.

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