INDIA’S FIRST CDS, GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

 


 

INDIA’S FIRST CDS 

GENERAL BIPIN RAWAT

(16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021)

 

 

Hailing from Saina village of Pauri district of Uttarakhand, India’s first CDS (Chief of Defence Service), General Bipin Rawat belonged to a family that has been traditionally serving in the Indian Army. Earlier, he served as the 57th and last Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and 26th Chief of Army Staff. He was one of the greatest warriors of India who scaled highest peaks of fame and name in the Indian military service.

 

General Bipin Rawat was a master of military might, a colossus among serving officers, instrumental to modernization and synchronization of our defence forces/system attuning it with the emerging trends, a Polymath in differentiated military operations in all its segments, a defence establishment whizz, a brainiac in designing and devising operational modules, and a highbrow in deploying sophisticated arms and ammunitions with marked success – all rolled into one.

 

Among others, General Rawat took many key decisions including a blueprint and action plan on China’s transgression. He was a nightmare for both China and Pakistan.

 

He was conferred with several presidential awards which included the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), UttamYudh Seva Medal (UYSM), AtiVishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), Yudh Seva Medal (YSM), Sena Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) and aide-de-camp (ADC).

 

He had to his credit, inter alia, the following achievements - as the Army Chief, he oversaw the airstrikes targeting what was considered as  one of the biggest terror hubs/training centres of the proscribed terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad on 26.2.2019 in Pakistan’s Balakot carried out as a befitting retaliation after over 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a gory Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Pulwama in J&K on 14.2.2019.

 

General Bipin Rawat lost his precious life in an Indian Army Force (IAF) chopper mishap in Coonoor (near Nilgiris), Tamil Nadu on 8.12.2021 (Wednesday). In the accident, the accompanying 12 others had also lost their lives including his wife Mrs. Madhulika Rawat while the sole survivor was Group Captain Varun Singh.

 

Before boarding the ill-fated chopper, Rawat spoke at the curtain raiser event of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), in which India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand are the members.

 

In the course of his last speech, Rawat batted and pitched for a united approach by the member-countries of the grouping in preparing for the likely future challenges such as Covid-19 pandemic and also stressed on the need to join hands to combat biological warfare also, which, of late, is emerging, and which he strongly deprecated. He wondered if biological war were to become the norm, what will be in store for the world population in the days to come, as conventional conflicts are already on the wane and fast becoming a thing of the past. He daringly told China that today India is not the one it was in 1967. Well said!

 

The grateful India bids a tearful adieu to this top-class military visionary, and, of course, the other 11 military officers as well, who were martyred while they were discharging their duties in the service of our nation. Salutes to them!

 

 

 

R.SAMPATH

13/12/2021

Comments

  1. The Nation had lost a dynamic soldier. -- Aravindan --

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really, we missed him a lot. Excellent Sampath. Your article as good as the legendary CDS Vipin Rawat. Tears rolled down.
    Meena

    ReplyDelete
  3. Really, we missed him a lot. Excellent Sampath. Your article as good as the legendary CDS Vipin Rawat. Tears rolled down.
    Meena

    ReplyDelete

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