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India on Wednesday paid tribute to Bipin Rawat, who was the country’s first chief of defence staff, on his birth anniversary. Known for being blunt and outspoken, the senior Army officer, his wife and 11 others died in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor last year.
Yesterday Army Chief General MM Naravane announced the setting up of a ‘Chair of Excellence’ in memory of Gen Rawat at the United Service Institution of India (USI).
According to a statement, the Gen Bipin Rawat Memorial Chair of Excellence will focus on the field of jointness and integration among the armed forces.
“Late General Bipin Rawat who served as India’s first CDS as well as the 27th Chief of Indian Army was an outstanding professional and was in the midst of steering one of the most radical transformations of the Indian military,” the Army stated.
Here are some facts about General Bipin Rawat, who would have turned 64 today:
1) Born in Uttarakhand’s Pauri in 1958, General Rawat joined the Indian Army in December 1978, after graduating from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun.
2) He was awarded the prestigious ‘Sword of Honour’ on his graduation from the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned to the Fifth Bn, the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles.
3) Over the course of a long and distinguised career, he commanded an infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector and an infantry division in the Kashmir Valley, as well as a Corps in the northeast and other areas of importance.
5) General Rawat also headed the Indian brigade during the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2008. India performed splendidly under his leadership and he was credited with dynamic leadership under the UN banner.
6) General Rawat was named India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on December 30, 2019.
7) His family has served in the Army for generations; his father Lakshman Singh Rawat was Lieutenant General.
8) The general miraculously survived a chopper accident when he was the commander of the Dimapur-based Headquarters 3 Corps.
9) In January General Rawat was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award. The award will be given posthumously at an investiture ceremony to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
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