The 80th Independence Day at the Red Fort will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, and the Ministry of Defence has set out the full order of the morning's ceremony. The programme is built around 150 years of the National Song, Vande Mataram, and the theme of young Indians in the country's push towards a developed nation by 2047.

For the first time, Vande Mataram will be sung at the Red Fort as part of the celebrations.

80th Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort

On arrival, Mr Modi will be received by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. Lt Gen Rajesh Sethi, the General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area, will conduct the Prime Minister to the saluting base, where a combined Inter-Services and Delhi Police guard presents the general salute. The Prime Minister then inspects the Guard of Honour, drawn one officer and 24 personnel each from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Delhi Police, with the Army the coordinating service this year.

At the ramparts he will be received by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen NS Raja Subramani, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Adm Krishna Swaminathan, and the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Dhiraj Seth. The Ministry of Defence said the Army is the lead service for the celebrations.

The flag, the guns and the flypast

Captain Sonia Singh Chauhan will assist the Prime Minister in hoisting the Tricolour. The unfurling is timed to a 21-gun salute fired by the 1721 Field Battery (Ceremonial), which uses the indigenous 105mm Light Field Gun.

As the flag goes up, two Mi-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force will shower flower petals over the venue, one carrying the National Flag and the other a flag bearing Vande Mataram. The Army band will play the tune of Vande Mataram, sung by all present, followed by the National Anthem.

Guests from the schemes, enclosures named after lakes

About 5,000 special guests have been invited to the 80th Independence Day celebrations from across public life. They include women entrepreneurs under the PM Mudra Yojana, street vendors registered with PM SVANidhi, sanitation workers under the Swachh Bharat Mission, artisans under the PM Vishwakarma scheme, interns from the Prime Minister Internship Scheme, and youth innovators and start-up founders backed under national programmes. A further 1,500 people from States and Union Territories will attend in traditional dress.

After the Prime Minister's address, 2,500 National Cadet Corps cadets and My Bharat volunteers seated on the Gyanpath, opposite the ramparts, will form the words of Vande Mataram in Devanagari and sing the National Song. View cutters carrying the Viksit Bharat 2047 theme will be set up alongside them.

The seating enclosures have been named after major lakes of India, among them Pangong Tso, Loktak, Chilika, Wular, Vembanad and Hussain Sagar. At Republic Day this year the enclosures carried the names of rivers; the Ministry has framed both choices as a move away from VIP culture and towards public attention on water conservation.

Getting to the Red Fort

The Delhi Metro will run from 4 am on August 15 and will be free for invitees, with QR codes issued alongside e-invitations. Twenty-five cloak rooms have been set up at six locations, wheelchairs will be available at Metro stations and parking areas, and rain ponchos will be provided given the chance of showers. Traffic curbs will be marked on Google Maps and Mappls.

Bands across the country, flags on the islands

Away from Delhi, band performances by the armed forces and central paramilitary forces will be held at 343 locations across the country, open to the public, according to the Ministry's release. The Indian Navy and local administrations will hoist the flag in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in Lakshadweep.