INDIA'S first chief of defence staff general Bipin Rawat, who died in a military helicopter accident last month in the southern state of Tamil Nadu along with his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed personnel, is set to be posthumously conferred Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian honour.
The home ministry announced the Padma awards on the eve of the 73rd Republic Day on Wednesday (26).
The 63-year-old Rawat, who served as India’s chief of army staff between 2016-19, was headed to Defence Services Staff College in Wellington in the southern state to address the faculty and student officers of the staff course when his helicopter crashed.
He was India’s longest-serving four-star general.
Besides Rawat, Kalyan Singh, the late chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who passed away last year; vocalist Prabha Atre and late Radheshyam Khemka, the president of Gita Press, were also chosen for the same award.
Former chief ministers get Padma Bhushan
Former chief ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad (Jammu and Kashmir) and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (West Bengal) and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech and Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India were to get Padma Bhushan – India’s third-highest civilian award. Bhattacharjee, however, refused to accept the award.
Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran were also named for Padma Bhushan.
Singer Sonu Nigam and Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra were picked for Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest honour.
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