Bipin Rawat, YSM, SM, PVSM, AVSM, VSM

Biography

General Bipin Rawat was born on 16 March 1958 in Pauri, Pauri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand, into a family with a distinguished military lineage. His father, Lt Gen Lakshman Singh Rawat, retired as Deputy Chief of the Army Staff. He was educated at Cambrian Hall School, Dehradun, and St. Edwards School, Shimla, before joining the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla. He graduated from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, first in order of merit, earning the prestigious Sword of Honour. He was commissioned into the 5th Battalion, 11 Gorkha Rifles on 16 December 1978. Over a career spanning more than four decades, General Rawat served extensively in high-altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations. He was deployed during the 1987 Sumdorong Chu standoff against the Chinese PLA along the McMahon Line. He commanded his battalion at Kibithu along the Line of Actual Control in the eastern sector. He served nearly a decade in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, including command of 5 Sector Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore. He also served as Commander of a United Nations Multinational Brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo under MONUSCO. As GOC III Corps at Dimapur, he oversaw the cross-border surgical strike against insurgents in Myanmar on 9 June 2015, in retaliation for the ambush of a 6 Dogra Regiment convoy in Chandel district, Manipur. He was appointed the 27th Chief of the Army Staff on 31 December 2016. On 1 January 2020, he became Indias first-ever Chief of Defence Staff, a landmark role created to serve as the principal military adviser to the Defence Minister and to bring jointness and integration among the three services. He also headed the newly created Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defence. On 8 December 2021, General Rawat, along with his wife and 12 other armed forces personnel, was travelling in an Indian Air Force Mi-17V-5 helicopter from Sulur Air Force Station to the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. The helicopter crashed near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, due to spatial disorientation of the pilot in poor weather conditions. All 14 on board lost their lives. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Indias second-highest civilian honour, in 2022. General Bipin Rawat remains a towering figure in Indias military history -- a soldiers soldier who dedicated his life to the defence of the nation.