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NEW DELHI: Sneha Shekhawat from Sikar in Rajasthan on Thursday created history when she led the Air Force contingent at the 63rd Republic Day parade becoming the first woman pilot to do so.

Flight Lieutenant Shekhawat was assisted by three other women Flying Officers Heena Pore, Anupam Chaudhary and Pooja Negi as the 144-strong Air Force contingent marched to the tunes of ’Air Battle’.

She was cheered by thousands of spectators as the commentator mentioned that she is the first woman to lead an Air Force contingent in the 63-year-old history of the parade.

Shekhawat is at posted with the IAF squadron at Hindon air base.

She was the face of elegance and confidence as she led the 144-member strong Air Force contingent marching to the tunes of its band playing ’Air Battle’.

The Agni-IV, successfully flight tested last November, stole the limelight as people cheered when the missile which can carry nuclear weapons was rolled out on the majestic Rajpath.

The Intermediate Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile mounted on a road mobile launcher was paraded by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The elite organisation also put on display for the first time the 150 km range Prahaar Tactical Battlefield Support Missile and the Rustom-1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Indigenously designed and developed RUSTOM-1, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), was another eye-catcher at the parade.

The medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (Male UAV) has been developed by the DRDO with Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) in Bangalore.

RUSTOM-I, named after late Prof Rustom B Damania will replace or supplement the Heron UAVs in service with the Indian armed forces.

It has has the potential military missions like reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, target designation, communications relay, battle damage assessment and signal intelligence.

Three of the six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft recently bought from the US was another first in the parade. The sixth aircraft was brought as late as November 2011.

NEW DELHI: Decrying the failure of Rajya Sabha to pass the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Thursday made a curious suggestion to bring a law to empower gram sabhas that will be above Parliament.

In a video address to Team Anna’s seminar ’Rebuilding the Republic’, he said people will have to be ready for a big agitation like the one for Jan Lokpal Bill if the government does not bring a law for empowering village sabhas.

"Lok Sabha thinks it is above everyone. This is wrong. People have made you. So they are above you...It is the sacred temple of democracy. In such a sacred place, what has happened in Rajya Sabha in the last day (of the winter session) on Lokpal Bill.

"550 people were giving their own suggestions. Nobody has asked people. So we need another law. Assemblies and Lok Sabha think that they are above gram sabhas. But gram sabhas are above you. We need a new law which gives such a power to gram sabhas," he said in his 30-minute address.

He said what happened in Rajya Sabha on the last day of winter session was wrong. "The elected members were giving their views on their own. This is not right democracy. Why this happened? Because the masters were sleeping.

"The Lok Sabha thinks it is above gram sabha. 550 people think they are bigger than everybody else. This thinking is wrong," he said.

He said there should be provisions in the new law that a panchayat can be dismissed if it spends money without consulting the gram sabha and getting their consent.

Arguing for strong gram sabhas, Hazare cited the acquisition process for special economic zones saying the owners in the villages and the village sabhas do not know when the government acquires their land straightaway without their permission.

"We the masters were sleeping when the servants were looting our treasuries. Now we have awakened. If the government does not bring a law, we will have to organise an agitation similar to the August 16 (Ramlila Maidan) agitation for a strong Lokpal Bill," he said.