President-elect Pranab Mukherjee will be sworn-in as the new President of the country on Wednesday. The swearing-in ceremony will take place in the central hall of Parliament.

Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice of India Justice SH Kapadia, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar, Members of Council of Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Members of Parliament and Principal Civil and Military Officers of the Government of India will assemble in the Central Hall for the ceremony.

According to an official release, President Pratiba Devisingh Patil and President-elect Mukherjee will arrive at the Central Hall in a ceremonial procession. After the President-elect takes the oath , a 21-Gun Salute will be fired. Mukherjee will then deliver an address.

On the conclusion of the ceremony in Central Hall, Mukherjee will leave for Rashtrapati Bhavan, where an inter-services guard of honour would be given to him in the forecourt and courtesies would be extended to the outgoing President Mrs Patil.

Following swearing in ceremony, the news bulletins of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam from 12.30 to 1300 hrs have been rescheduled. The Telugu bulletin will be broadcast from 3.00 to 3.10 PM, Tamil from 3.10 PM to 3.20 PM and Malayalam 3.20 to 3.30 PM. There will be however be no change during this broadcast in the national news bulletins in Hindi and English.

Ahead of taking over in an interview to All India Radio, Mukherjee said the Parliamentary system, economic development and progress of the country were moving upwards uninterrupted. He said that spoke of the strength of the democratic system and democratic culture.