President Approves 78 Gallantry Awards and 89 Mention-in-Despatches on Independence Day

Honorable President Droupadi Murmu has awarded 78 Gallantry Awards, including 13 Posthumous Awards, to personnel of the Defence Forces and Central Armed Police Forces ahead of India’s 80th Independence Day. President Droupadi Murmu has further awarded 89 Mention-in-Despatches to personnel of Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force in appreciation of their distinguished services in different operations.

78 Gallantry Awards Approved

These 78 gallantry awards that have been sanctioned by President Murmu consist of awards from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Central Armed Police Forces.

The awards have been distributed as follows,

Gallantry Award	Number of Awards	Posthumous
Kirti Chakra	9	7
Bar to Shaurya Chakra	1	–
Shaurya Chakra	19	1
Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry)	5	–
Sena Medal (Gallantry)	36	5
Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry)	3	–
Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry)	5	–
Total	78	13

Kirti Chakra is one of the highest peacetime gallantry awards of India and has been awarded to 9 people including Lieutenant Colonel Maneo Francis PF, Major Jitendra Rathee, and Havildar Gajendra Singh. Out of 9 Kirti Chakra awards, 7 are posthumous.

Gallantry Awards 2026 – Award List

Kirti Chakra – 9

1. Lt Col Maneo Francis PF — Army
2. Major Jitendra Rathee — Army
3. Havildar Gajendra Singh — Army (Posthumous)
4. Head Constable Jagbir Singh — MHA (Posthumous)
5. SG Constable Jaswant Singh — MHA (Posthumous)
6. SG Constable Balvinder Singh — MHA (Posthumous)
7. SG Constable Tariq Hussain — MHA (Posthumous)
8. Head Constable Bashir Ahmad — MHA (Posthumous)
9. Inspector Sunil Kumar, STF — MHA (Posthumous)

Bar to Shaurya Chakra – 1

1. Major Aditya Pratap Singh — Army

Shaurya Chakra – 19

1. Major Paramveer — Army
2. Major Tarun Vasudevan — Army
3. Major Keshav Kumar — Army
4. Major Gaurav Singh Brijwal — Army
5. Major Vipeen Kumar — Army
6. Naib Subedar Shankar Ram — Army
7. Naib Subedar Dabbal Singh Bisht — Army
8. Havildar Jagattar Singh — Army
9. Lance Naik Narender Sindhu — Army (Posthumous)
10. Lance Naik Kapil Dev — Army
11. Sepoy Jaswinder Singh — Army
12. Lt Commander Shivam Kumar — Navy
13. Squadron Leader Sudhir Kumar — Air Force
14. DySP Dheeraj Singh Katoch — MHA
15. Inspector Ajay Singh Chib — MHA
16. DySP Sukhvir Singh — MHA
17. ASI Niyaz Ahmad — MHA
18. Deputy Commandant Anjani Kumar — MHA
19. Constable Deepak Sah — MHA

Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry) – 5

1. Major DS Paosho — Army
2. Major Anuj Mahajan — Army
3. Major Krishan Kant — Army
4. Subedar Ramesh Kumar — Army
5. Naib Subedar Rajendra Singh — Army

Sena Medal (Gallantry) – 36

1. Lt Col Pushkar Vijay Chaudhary — Army
2. Lt Col Sonam Topden Bhutia — Army
3. Major Sudhansu Sekhar Pani — Army
4. Major Mohit Podia — Army
5. Major R Sahil — Army
6. Major Balendu Kumar Jha — Army
7. Major Ravi Shankar Joshi — Army
8. Major Rupam Das — Army
9. Major Arnav Bali — Army
10. Major Anshuman Ranjan — Army
11. Major Arvind Kumar — Army
12. Captain Karan Singh Cheema — Army
13. Captain Harish Singh Dewali — Army
14. Captain Mohit Rawat — Army
15. Captain Anshumaan Singh — Army
16. Captain Bane Swaraj Sudhir — Army
17. Captain Pruthviraj Jaysing Nighot — Army
18. Captain Savik — Army
19. Lt Bhanu Pratap Singh — Army
20. Lt Aman Pandey — Army
21. Assistant Commandant Bikash Rai — Army
22. Subedar Pawan Kumar — Army
23. Subedar Perbhat Gaur — Army (Posthumous)
24. Subedar Kanase Namdev Balkrishna — Army
25. Subedar Baljinder Singh — Army
26. Naib Subedar Dayal Singh — Army
27. Havildar L Joel Kom — Army
28. Havildar Mulla Abidali Ashrafali — Army
29. Lance Havildar Palash Ghosh — Army (Posthumous)
30. Naik Ali Mohammad Khan — Army
31. Lance Naik Sujay Ghosh — Army (Posthumous)
32. Lance Naik Abhimanu Singh — Army
33. Lance Naik Bidha Singh — Army
34. Lance Naik Pritpal Singh — Army (Posthumous)
35. Sepoy Harminder Singh — Army (Posthumous)
36. Paratrooper Himanshu Kumar — Army
37. Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry) – 3
38. Commander Vineet Sharma — Navy
39. Commander Yuvraj Kumar — Navy
40. AC Avinash Annaso, POA (FD) — Navy
41. Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) – 5
42. Group Captain Rahul Jagotta — Air Force
43. Group Captain Rahul Rawat — Air Force
44. Wing Commander Ashish Rajpoot — Air Force
45. Flight Lieutenant Yash — Air Force
46. Master Warrant Officer Ravinderjit Singh — Air Force

Overall Gallantry Awards

• Total Gallantry Awards: 78
• Posthumous Awards: 13
• Kirti Chakra: 9
• Bar to Shaurya Chakra: 1
• Shaurya Chakra: 19
• Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry): 5
• Sena Medal (Gallantry): 36
• Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry): 3
• Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry): 5

Mention-in-Despatches – 89

• Indian Army: 75 personnel
• Indian Navy: 4 personnel
• Indian Air Force: 10 personnel

Army – 75

Operation Rakshak: 24 personnel, including Army Dog Tyson

1. Operation Hifazat: 14 personnel
2. Operation Orchid: 5 personnel
3. Operation Meghdoot: 2 personnel
4. Operation Snow Leopard: 6 personnel
5. Operation Chakravyuh: 1 personnel
6. Operation Chet heba: 1 personnel
7. Operation Khoijuman: 1 personnel
8. Operation Mount Kangto: 1 personnel
9. Operation Talash: 2 personnel
10. Operation Awang Lekhai: 1 personnel
11. Operation Khoj: 1 personnel
12. Operation Nongren II: 1 personnel
13. Operation Maova-Kiyevi: 1 personnel
14. Operation Secure Shield–XLII: 2 personnel
15. Operation Chanbirok: 1 personnel
16. Miscellaneous Operations: 11 personnel

Navy – 4

1. Commander Nikhil Chugh
2. Lt Ajay Jose N Joseph
3. Ashwin Santosh, AVR Sea (CD)
4. Abhishek C Dhanawade, Sea I (CD)

Air Force – 10

1. Wing Commander Raja Reddy Lalita Nagesh Kumar
2. Wing Commander Ammar Haider Naqvi
3. Wing Commander Manoj Puri Goswami
4. Squadron Leader Kundarapu Koushik
5. Flight Lieutenant Parthasarathi Mulay
6. Master Warrant Officer Brahm Prakash (Retd)
7. Master Warrant Officer Anoop Singh
8. Corporal Mohan Lal Saini
9. Wing Commander CR Pradeep
10. Squadron Leader Aviral Gandhi

Total Honours: 78 Gallantry Awards + 89 Mention-in-Despatches = 167 honours approved by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of 80th Independence Day 2026.