The urban development ministry and the Delhi Urban Art Commission have been objecting to the memorial, saying it would spoil the ambience at the India Gate. However, the defence ministry says the monument would only be a little higher than the ground.

Most portions of the marble slabs on which the 50,000 names would be etched would actually be below ground level. They would be in a circular fashion around the canopy next to the India Gate. People can walk along the slabs, pay their respects and move to India Gate.

'It's insulting as well as embarrassing that India is virtually the only country without a dedicated national war memorial. It is as if the 1947-48 Jammu and Kashmir operation, the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and the 1999 Kargil conflict do not matter at all,' an Indian Army officer said, requesting anonymity.