NEW DELHI: The untimely demise of Chief of Defence Staff, the senior most Indian military officer, has shocked India and also personnel of the three services.
The accident has shaken the Department of Defence Studies at Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut, where General Bipin Rawat completed his research on ‘Role of Media in Armed Forces’ and was awarded PhD in 2011.
Dr Harveer Sharma, guide of General Rawat, remembers a keen student who was always open to new ideas.
“He met me very briefly but showed interest in doing PhD specifically to understand the drivers of media which can be utilised in improving the image of the army. I am shocked. None imagined this would happen,” he said.
For Dr HK Pandey, head of the Defence Studies Department, death of General Rawat is the loss of a thinker.
“I am talking of around 12 years back and my impression about him is of a military thinker who had vision and clarity of the direction our armed forces should be moving in. People remember him as a CDS but we remember him as a thinker.”
General MM Naravane and the Indian Army expressed grief at the demise of General Rawat. His wife Madhulika was the president of Defence Women Welfare Association.
General Rawat, India’s first CDS, assumed charge on January 1, 2020. He was a visionary who initiated far-reaching reforms in Indian military’s higher defence organisation, said Indian Army in its stament.
He was instrumental in creating the foundation of India’s joint theater commands and giving impetus to the increased indigenisation of military equipment, a legacy which will be carried on.
General Rawat was the longest-serving Indian military officer who was the 27th Chief of the Army Staff. He was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the Eleven Gorkha Rifles in December 1978, from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’.
He led the surgical strikes in Pakistan and Myanmar other than handling the stand-off with Chian. He had vast experience in high-altitude warfare and counter insurgency operations.
He commanded an Infantry battalion, along the LAC in the Eastern Sector, a Rashtriya Rifles Sector and an Infantry Division in the Kashmir Valley, a Corps in the Eastern Theater and the Southern Command.
He was also an instructor at Indian Military Academy and Army War College, Mhow in his early years in service.
Academically inclined, he has authored many articles on national security’ and leadership, which have been published in various journals.