Current Affairs Online Test -125
Bipin Rawat
General Bipin Rawat PVSM UYSM AVSM YSM SM VSM ADC (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian military officer who was a four-star general of the Indian Army. He served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in a helicopter crash in December 2021. Prior to taking over as the CDS, he served as the 57th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (Chairman COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces as well as 26th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army.
Early life and education
Bipin Rawat was born in Pauri town of Pauri Garhwal district, present-day Uttarakhand state, on 16 March 1958. His family had been serving in the Indian Army for multiple generations. His father Lakshman Singh Rawat (1930–2015) was from Sainj village of the Pauri Garhwal district; commissioned into 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1951, he retired as Deputy Chief of the Army Staff in 1988 as a Lieutenant General.His mother was from the Uttarkashi district and was the daughter of Kishan Singh Parmar, the ex-Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Uttarkashi.
Rawat attended Cambrian Hall School in Dehradun and St. Edward's School in Shimla. He then joined the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, from where he graduated first in the order of merit and was awarded the 'Sword of Honour'.
Rawat was also a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1997. From his tenure at the DSSC, he obtained an MPhil degree in Defence Studies as well as diplomas in Management and Computer Studies from the University of Madras. In 2011, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut for his research on military-media strategic studies.
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Military career
Early career
Rawat was commissioned into the 5th battalion, the 11 Gorkha Rifles (5/11 GR) on 16 December 1978, the same unit as his father.
During the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish in the Sumdorong Chu valley, then Captain Rawat's battalion was deployed against the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The standoff was the first military confrontation along the disputed McMahon Line after the 1962 war.
He had much experience in high-altitude warfare and spent ten years conducting counter-insurgency operations. He commanded a company in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir as a Major. As a Colonel, he commanded his battalion, the 5th battalion, the 11 Gorkha Rifles, in the eastern sector along the Line of Actual Control at Kibithu. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, he commanded 5 Sector of Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore.
UN mission in Congo
Rawat commanded MONUSCO (a Multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Within two weeks of deployment in the DRC, the Brigade faced a major offensive in the east which threatened the regional capital of North Kivu, Goma. The offensive also threatened to destabilise the country as a whole. The situation demanded a rapid response and North Kivu Brigade was reinforced, where it was responsible for over 7,000 men and women, representing nearly half of the total MONUSCO force. Whilst simultaneously engaged in offensive kinetic operations against the CNDP and other armed groups, Rawat (then Brigadier) carried out tactical support to the Congolese Army (FARDC), He sensitised programmes with the local population and detailed coordination to ensure that all were informed about the situation and worked together in the progress of operations. He was responsible for the protection of the vulnerable population.
This operational period lasted for four months. Goma never fell, the East stabilized and the main armed group was motivated to the negotiating table and has since been integrated into the FARDC. He was also tasked to present the Revised Charter of Peace Enforcement to the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Force Commanders of all the UN missions in a special conference at Wilton Park, London, on 16 May 2009. Rawat was twice awarded the Force Commander’s Commendation.
General officer
After promotion to Major General, Rawat took over as the General Officer Commanding 19th Infantry Division (Uri). As a Lieutenant General, he commanded III Corps, headquartered in Dimapur, before taking over the Southern Command in Pune.
He also held staff assignments which included an instructional tenure at the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun), General Staff Officer Grade 2 at the Military Operations Directorate, logistics staff officer of a Re-organised Army Plains Infantry Division (RAPID) in Central India, Colonel Military Secretary and Deputy Military Secretary in the Military Secretary’s Branch and Senior Instructor in the Junior Command Wing. He also served as the Major General General Staff (MGGS) of the Eastern Command.
2015 Myanmar strikes
In June 2015, eighteen Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush by militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFW) in Manipur. The Indian Army responded with cross-border strikes in which units of the 21st battalion of the Parachute Regiment struck an NSCN-K base in Myanmar. 21 Para was under the operational control of the Dimapur based III Corps, which was then commanded by Rawat.
Southern Army Commander
After being promoted to the Army Commander grade, Rawat assumed the post of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command on 1 January 2016. After a short stint, he assumed the post of Vice Chief of the Army Staff on 1 September 2016.
Chief of the Army Staff
General Dalbir Singh Suhag handing over the baton to Rawat at Army HQ
On 17 December 2016, the Government of India appointed Rawat as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff, superseding two more senior Lieutenant Generals, Praveen Bakshi and P. M. Hariz. The appointment made by NDA ruled Government was politically controversial. Rawat was accused of nepotism and gratuitously politicising the appointment, by the senior serving and retired military officers.
He took office of Chief of the Army Staff as the 27th COAS on 31 December 2016, after retirement of General Dalbir Singh Suhag. He was the third officer from the Gorkha Brigade to become the Chief of the Army Staff, after Sam Manekshaw and Suhag.
In 2018, Rawat defended the army Major involved in the Kashmir human shield incident, where a Kashmiri man was tied to a jeep as a human shield. The officer was awarded a Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card by Rawat for counter-insurgency operations.
Rawat had been criticized by the opposition party leaders for making political statements during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
On his visit to the United States in 2019, General Rawat was inducted to the United States Army Command and General Staff College International Hall of Fame. He was also an honorary General of Nepalese Army in accordance with the tradition between the Indian and Nepali armies to confer the honorary rank of General upon each other's chiefs to signify their close and special military ties.
Rawat served as the 57th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee.
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