Nothing common about this baton

Few people know that the Queen's Baton, a symbol of the Commonwealth Games, which is now on a world tour covering a distance of close to two lakh kilometres, has three other replicas. Still fewer know that Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) was involved in the manufacture of the four batons.

BEL displayed one of the batons — for which it has provided technological support with Foley Designs and Titan Industries having given the mechanical design and fabrication, respectively — here on Thursday. Inspiration

Describing the inspiration behind creating the 0.6-metre-long baton weighing less than 2 kg, I.V. Sarma, Director, Response and Development, BEL said,

“The baton is an amalgamation of traditional craftsmanship and modern technology. It represents the cultural heritage, diversity and unity of the nation.” He substantiated this by displaying the sand collected from different States of the country which is embedded on the body of the baton.

The baton has been designed to be structurally strong, light-weight and rugged to suit the tough conditions of the journey in the relay.

The recordings and pictures can be directly uploaded to the Games' web server situated in New Delhi.