Gallantry Awards 2026: President Murmu Confers 51 Honours at Rashtrapati Bhavan

The gallantry awards 2026 cycle reached its formal culmination on Monday when President Droupadi Murmu conferred 51 honours on personnel of the Armed Forces, Central Armed Police Forces, and State and Union Territory Police at the Defence Investiture Ceremony 2026 Phase-I, held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The ceremony recognised acts of valour, devotion to duty, and extraordinary courage displayed across military operations, counter-terrorism missions, and internal security assignments carried out between April 2024 and January 2026.

This year's tally included seven Kirti Chakras, 15 Vir Chakras, and 29 Shaurya Chakras. Five of the 51 awards were conferred posthumously, a stark reminder of the cost that operational service continues to exact on the country's uniformed personnel. The posthumous honours comprised two Kirti Chakras, three Vir Chakras, and one Shaurya Chakra.

Army Leads the Gallantry Awards 2026 Tally

The Indian Army accounted for the largest share of recipients, with 31 personnel receiving awards across all three gallantry categories. The Indian Air Force contributed 10 awardees, the Indian Navy secured four honours, and personnel from the CAPFs and State and UT Police received six Shaurya Chakras for acts of bravery during security operations.

Among the Army awardees, soldiers from several storied regiments were recognised for their operational conduct. Personnel of the Rajputana Rifles, Kumaon Regiment, and Dogra Regiment received gallantry honours for exceptional courage during counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations. The Assam Rifles, which carries an outsized operational burden across the Northeast and in Jammu and Kashmir, accounted for nine awardees spanning multiple gallantry categories, a number that speaks to the tempo and intensity of its operational commitment in both theatres.

India's elite Special Forces featured prominently in this year's recognitions. Personnel from 4 Para (Special Forces), 6 Para (Special Forces), and 11 Para (Special Forces) collectively earned six Shaurya Chakras and three Vir Chakras, reflecting the central role that Special Forces units have played in recent high-risk operations across the country's most sensitive areas.

Air Force Recipients and the May 7 Operation

Among the Air Force awardees, a cluster of honours drew particular attention. Five Group Captains, two Squadron Leaders, and three other flying officers were awarded the Vir Chakra for their role in a single operational action conducted on May 7, 2025. The conferral of ten Vir Chakras to Air Force personnel for one operation is a recognition of the scale and intensity of what that action demanded of the service's aircrew and the standards they met under those conditions.

The Air Force's operational posture and the professionalism of its personnel across a range of platforms and missions have been tested repeatedly in the period under review. Monday's awards represent the formal acknowledgement of conduct that met the service's highest standards at the most demanding moments.

Women Officers Recognised for January 2026 Action

The ceremony included a recognition that carries weight beyond the individual award. Lieutenant Commander Dilna K and Lieutenant Commander Roopa A of the Indian Navy were jointly awarded the Shaurya Chakra for an action carried out on January 26, 2026. Their decoration is among the more visible markers of a broader shift in the operational roles being assigned to and executed by women officers across the Armed Forces. Both officers were recognised for conduct during a specific operational action, placing their awards in the same category as those of their male peers recognised on the same day.

The Navy's contribution of four awardees this year, including the two Lieutenant Commanders, reflects the service's ongoing operational tempo and the range of missions its personnel are called upon to execute across India's maritime approaches and in other assigned areas of operation.

Posthumous Honours and Individual Citations

Five of the 51 awards were presented posthumously, with families of the fallen receiving the decorations on behalf of their personnel. Lance Naik Meenatchi Sundaram A of the Regiment of Artillery, attached to 34 Rashtriya Rifles, received the Kirti Chakra for an operation conducted in December 2024. His award places him among the highest decorated individuals from this investiture cycle.

Kirti Chakra Posthumous Awards

Lieutenant Shashank Tiwari of the Army Service Corps, attached to 1 Sikkim Scouts, was awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously for an operation conducted on May 22, 2025. Sepoy Janjal Pravin Prabhakar of the Mahar Regiment, attached to 1 Rashtriya Rifles, received the Kirti Chakra posthumously for his actions on July 6, 2024. These two posthumous Kirti Chakras account for the full complement of that decoration awarded posthumously in this phase of the 2026 investiture.

Rifleman Sunil Kumar of 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry was awarded the Vir Chakra posthumously for exceptional bravery during an operation on May 10, 2025. The Vir Chakra is the country's third-highest wartime gallantry award, and its posthumous conferral reflects the intensity of the action in which Rifleman Kumar was involved.

The Rashtriya Rifles, which has long carried primary responsibility for counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, appears across several citations in this investiture cycle. Units attached to the Rashtriya Rifles accounted for multiple awardees, including personnel from the Regiment of Artillery, the Mahar Regiment, and other attached elements, reinforcing the RR's position as the Army formation bearing the heaviest operational load in the Valley and its surrounding areas.

Context and Significance of the 2026 Investiture

Defence investiture ceremonies at Rashtrapati Bhavan are held in phases, and Monday's ceremony represented Phase-I of the 2026 cycle. The awards span a period of active and sustained operational activity across multiple theatres, from the high-altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir to counter-insurgency grids in the Northeast and maritime operations in Indian waters.

The period under review, April 2024 to January 2026, covers a stretch of time that saw the Armed Forces engaged across a range of operational assignments. The Air Force awards for the May 7, 2025 action in particular mark one of the more operationally significant periods in recent memory for Indian airpower, with the investiture providing the formal institutional recognition for conduct that played out in real-time operational conditions.

The Kirti Chakra is India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, and its conferral on seven personnel in a single investiture phase indicates the scale and quality of operational work being done by the Army, in particular, during the covered period. The Vir Chakra, awarded during wartime or operations against external enemies, carries its own distinct weight, and the 15 Vir Chakras conferred on Monday represent a notable tally for a single investiture phase.

The Shaurya Chakra, awarded for acts of gallantry in situations other than operations against an external enemy, covered the widest range of recipients this year, from Special Forces soldiers and Rashtriya Rifles personnel to CAPF and State Police officers who carried out their own acts of distinguished bravery in internal security duties. The six Shaurya Chakras awarded to CAPF and police personnel underscore the parallel operational burden carried by India's paramilitary forces and civilian police in the country's ongoing internal security environment.

In total, the gallantry awards 2026 Phase-I ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan brought the country's formal institutional recognition to 51 acts of valour and devotion to duty, spread across the Army, Air Force, Navy, paramilitary forces, and State and UT Police. Five of those acts cost the men who performed them their lives, and the ceremony placed their names, their units, and the dates of their actions on the permanent record of the country's gallantry honours.

For further details on the official awards list and individual citations, the Ministry of Defence and the President's Secretariat publish formal records of the Rashtrapati Bhavan investiture ceremonies. The Press Information Bureau carries the official government release at PIB India. The Ministry of Defence maintains an official record of gallantry awards at the Ministry of Defence website.