General Bipin Rawat: Lesser Known Facts About India’s First Chief Of Defence Staff

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General Bipin Rawat, a four-star general of the Indian Army and India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces since January 2020 died in an IAF Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday 8 December in the evening.

Along with him, 11 more Armed Force personnel, including his wife Madhulika Rawat, were killed in the chopper crash; Military adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff Brig Lakhbinder Singh Lidder, Staff Officer Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Naik Gursewak Singh, Havildar Satpal, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik Sai Teja.

The only survivor from the crash is Group Captain Varun Singh who is in critical condition and is receiving treatment at a military hospital in Wellington.

President Ram Nath Kovind, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in this crash.

Lesser-Known Facts About General Bipin Rawat

1. General Bipin Laxman Singh Rawat was born on 16 March 1958 in Pauri, now known as Uttarakhand.
2. Many generations of his family have served in the Indian Army including his father Laxman Singh Rawat who was the Lieutenant-General in the military.
3. During his training days at the Indian Military Academy Dehradun, he was awarded 'Sword of Honour'.
4. He has also done a Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
5. For his research on military media strategic studies, he was given an honorary doctorate in 2011 by Chaudhary Charan Singh University, formerly Meerut University located in Meerut (Uttarakhand).
6. On 16 December 1978, he was commissioned into the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles, which was the same unit as his father.
7. Rawat was an expert in high-altitude warfare and counterinsurgency.
8. He has also been a part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, which is the UN's peacekeeping force. He was awarded there twice with the Force Commander's Commendation
9. He was the third military officer from the Gorkha regiments to have been appointed with the post of the Chief of the Army Staff (India), the army head of the Indian Armed Forces.
10. He was also an honorary general of the Nepalese Army.
11. He was married to Madhulika Rawat who was from an erstwhile royal family and the daughter of Kunwar Mrigendra Singh.
12. During his 43 years of career, he has received numerous recognitions and awards like Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, and many more.
13. He was to deliver a lecture at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington when he died in a helicopter crash in Cooner, Tamil Nadu, 10 kilometres from the destination.
14. General Bipin Rawat was 63 years old when he died.

Image Source: Wikipedia