President Droupadi Murmu has approved 78 gallantry awards, including 13 posthumous, along with 89 Mention-in-Despatches, for personnel of the Defence Forces and Central Armed Police Forces on the eve of the 80th Independence Day. The list, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday, covers the Kirti Chakra, the Shaurya Chakra, the Sena, Nao Sena and Vayu Sena Medals for Gallantry, and their Bars, recognising personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Central Armed Police Forces. The full citation record for each award, once published, sits on the official Gallantry Awards portal maintained by the Ministry of Defence.

Nine Kirti Chakras, seven of them posthumous

The Kirti Chakra, India's second highest peacetime gallantry award, goes to nine personnel this year, seven of them posthumous. Three are soldiers of the Army's Special Forces: Lieutenant Colonel Maneo Francis of 21 Para (Special Forces), Major Jitendra Rathee of 2 Para (Special Forces), and Havildar Gajendra Singh of 2 Para (Special Forces), the last of the three posthumous. The remaining six Kirti Chakras go to Central Armed Police Forces personnel, all posthumous: Head Constable Jagbir Singh, Selection Grade Constable Jaswant Singh, Selection Grade Constable Balvinder Singh, Selection Grade Constable Tariq Hussain, Head Constable Bashir Ahmad and Inspector Sunil Kumar of the Special Task Force.

A Bar to the Shaurya Chakra, and 19 more

A single Bar to the Shaurya Chakra has been approved this year, for Major Aditya Pratap Singh of the Rajputana Rifles, attached to 44 Assam Rifles, who already holds the Shaurya Chakra and Sena Medal. Nineteen fresh Shaurya Chakras follow, one of them posthumous to Lance Naik Narender Sindhu of the Rajputana Rifles.

Shaurya Chakra list crosses all three services

Most Shaurya Chakra recipients are Army officers and junior commissioned officers drawn from Rashtriya Rifles and Assam Rifles counter insurgency formations, along with Para Special Forces personnel. The Navy and Air Force are represented too, with Lieutenant Commander Shivam Kumar and Squadron Leader Sudhir Kumar named among the recipients, and six of the nineteen awards go to Central Armed Police Forces officers, ranging from a Deputy Superintendent of Police to a Constable.

Sena, Nao Sena and Vayu Sena Medals fill out the list

Beyond the Shaurya Chakra tier, the list carries five Bars to the Sena Medal (Gallantry) and 36 Sena Medals (Gallantry), five of the latter posthumous. The Navy adds three Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry), and the Air Force five Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry), four of them to pilots.

The 78 gallantry awards span all three services and the CAPFs

Taken together, the 78 gallantry awards this year draw overwhelmingly on the Army's counter insurgency and Special Forces units, with the Rajputana Rifles, the Garhwal Rifles, the Dogra Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry and several Rashtriya Rifles and Assam Rifles battalions featuring across categories. The Navy and Air Force contributions are smaller in number but run across ranks, from a Master Warrant Officer parachute jump instructor to serving pilots. Independence Day ceremonies at the Red Fort on Saturday will mark the 80th anniversary, with the formal investiture of this year's awards expected to follow in a separate ceremony, as it did after the Phase-I gallantry list approved in June.

An Army dog among 89 Mentioned in Despatches

The President has also approved 89 Mention-in-Despatches, 75 of them to Army personnel, four to the Navy and 10 to the Air Force. The Army list runs across a wide spread of named operations, including Operation Rakshak, Operation Hifazat, Operation Orchid, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Snow Leopard and Operation Talash, along with smaller counter insurgency operations in the Northeast such as Operation Chanbirok and Operation Secure Shield. One entry on the Operation Rakshak list is not human: Army Dog Tyson of the Remount Veterinary Corps, attached to 2 Para (Special Forces), is named among the personnel mentioned.

The Misc Operations category also carries a Mention-in-Despatches for a retired officer, Lieutenant Colonel Rohit Singh Sahi, recognising service rendered before his retirement from 666 Army Aviation Squadron. Both lists are carried on the Ministry of Defence website alongside the annual Independence Day honours.