Olympic gold medallist Subedar Neeraj Chopra was named for the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) on the eve of Republic Day, while six Army personnel, five of them posthumously, have been selected for the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peacetime gallantry award, by the President and Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces, Ram Nath Kovind.
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A Defence Ministry statement said: “The President has approved awards of 384 Gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces personnel and others on the eve of 73rd Republic Day celebrations.”
These include 12 Shaurya Chakras, 29 PVSMs, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Yudh Seva Medals, 125 Vishisht Seva Medals, 84 Sena Medals (Gallantry), two Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry), 40 Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), eight Nao Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), and 14 Vayu Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty).
Subedar Neeraj Chopra won the Olympic gold in javelin at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He enrolled in the 4th battalion of the Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry Naib Subedar on May 15, 2016.
Awarded for distinguished service of exceptional order, the PVSM is mostly awarded to officers of the Lieutenant General rank and equivalent, and rarely to officers of lower ranks, and even less so to Junior Commissioned Officers.
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The five personnel conferred Shaurya Chakra posthumously are Naib Subedar M. Sreejith and Sepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Kumar Reddy from the 17 Madras Regiment; Havildar Anil Kumar Tomar from the Rajput Regiment; Havildar Kashiray Bammanalli from the Corps of Engineers and with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR); and Havildar Pinku Kumar from the Jat Regiment and with the 34 RR.
The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee is Rifleman Rakesh Sharma, 5 Assam Rifles.
All the six personnel have been awarded the Shaurya Chakra for their role in counter-insurgency operations, of which all five personnel awarded posthumously were for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC).
The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee, Rifleman Sharma, was part of an ambush that took place after receiving information on the movement of insurgents for extortion and killing of civilians in a village in Assam in May 2021.
In addition, the President has awarded one President’s Tatrakshak Medal (PTM), three Tatrakshak Medals (TM) and one TM for meritorious service to Coast Guard personnel.
