CDS Rawat’s wife Madhulika and 11 other personnel also died in the accident.
A respected military man, General Rawat took over as the first tri-services chief in 2020 after completing his three-year term. Army President.
IAF Helicopter Crash Live Updates
Here’s a brief timeline CDS RawatTravel…
General Rawat was born in a Hindu Garhwali Rajput family in Pauri, Uttarakhand.
* Rawat attended Cambrian Hall School, Dehradun and St. Edward’s School, Shimla.
* He graduated from Defense Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and had higher command courses at United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
* Several members of his family have served in the army, including his father Laxman Singh Rawat, who rose from the ranks to become the Chief of the Army Staff.
* An infantryman with over four decades of military service, Rawat served on India’s border with China, the Kashmir region and UN missions in Africa.
* As a colonel, he commanded the 5th Battalion of 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 the Rashtriya Rifles at Sopore. He then commanded a multinational brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the Congo under the United Nations Mission.
General Bipin Rawat was an outstanding soldier. A true patriot, he contributed a lot in the modernization of our armed forces… https://t.co/aUyn7tlnST
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1638968395000
* After promotion to the rank of Major General, Rawat took over as the General Officer Commanding of the 19th Infantry Division at Uri.
* As a lieutenant general, he commanded the III Corps headquartered at Dimapur before taking over the Southern Army at Pune.
* He had extensive experience in high-altitude warfare and spent ten years conducting counter-insurgency operations.
* An old colleague had told TOI that CDS Rawat was always fond of sports and loved playing football.
* There are two daughters in his family.
an outstanding military commander
As India’s first Chief of Defense Staff, General Rawat was tasked with bringing about theater command and jointness between the three services, and he has been pursuing this over the past two years with a tough approach and specific timelines.
Known for being outspoken, fearless and at times blunt, the outstanding military commander wowed many feathers with his controversial remarks during his tenure as the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Staff.
General Bipin Rawat had a unique understanding of geopolitical turmoil, calibrated a tri-service military doctrine to address the myriad security challenges India faced, and was extensively deployed in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. It is credited with reducing terror.
Shocked and pained by the untimely demise of General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika ji. Nation has… https://t.co/X3HVRqydh1
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) 1638968189000
When he was the army chief between 2016 and 2019, he strongly supported the policy of hot pursuit in combating cross-border terrorism and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Long before the Doklam standoff in 2017, General Rawat had highlighted that India’s primary and long-term security challenge would come from an increasingly assertive China and that India needed to modernize its armed forces to counter it.
He also shook Beijing’s wings by repeatedly questioning its actions on India’s borders and warning Nepal about China’s growing footprint.
File:CDS General Rawat with his wife Madhulika (PTI)
role in key functions
General Rawat also played a key role in successfully carrying out the 2015 cross-border operation in Myanmar in response to a major attack by Naga militants.
He was also part of the plan when India conducted surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, inflicting significant damage to the adversary.
File:Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 (PTI)
General Rawat was the Chief of Army Staff when Indian fighter jets struck a Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist training camp inside Pakistan’s Balakot, and was reportedly part of the decision-making process and provided vital inputs for the operation .
General Rawat, the first Chief of the Army Staff to be appointed as the CDS, had an illustrious career spanning four decades, during which he served with distinction in several conflict-ridden regions, including Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
(with inputs from PTI)
Watch General Bipin Rawat: From Pauri Garhwal to CDS; All About India’s Top Military Officer
,