General Bipin Rawat (16 March 1958 – 8 December 2021) was an Indian Army officer who became the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on 1 January 2020. Before that he was the 27th Chief of the Army Staff from 2016 to 2019. He was working to reorganise the army, navy and air force into joint commands when he was killed in a helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu, along with his wife and eleven others. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan posthumously.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Bipin Laxman Singh Rawat |
| Born | 16 March 1958, Pauri, Pauri Garhwal district, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), India |
| Died | 8 December 2021, near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu (aged 63) |
| Service | Indian Army (1978–2021) |
| Regiment | 5th Battalion, 11 Gorkha Rifles |
| Offices | Chief of the Army Staff (2016–2019); Chief of Defence Staff (2020–2021) |
| Education | St. Edward’s School, Shimla; National Defence Academy; Indian Military Academy |
| Spouse | Madhulika Rawat |
| Children | 2 daughters |
| Honour | Padma Vibhushan (2022, posthumous) |
Early Life
Rawat was born into a Garhwali family with a long record of army service. His father, Lakshman Singh Rawat, retired as a lieutenant general. He studied at Cambrian Hall in Dehradun and St. Edward’s in Shimla, then at the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, where he won the Sword of Honour as the best cadet. In December 1978 he was commissioned into the 5th battalion of the 11 Gorkha Rifles, the unit his father had commanded.
Military Career
He spent much of his career in counter-insurgency and high-altitude warfare. As a young officer he served at Sumdorong Chu during the 1987 stand-off with China. He commanded a Rashtriya Rifles sector in Kashmir and a multinational brigade of United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2008. In February 2015 he survived a helicopter crash in Nagaland. As commander of III Corps he oversaw the cross-border raid on militant camps in Myanmar in June 2015.
He was appointed Chief of the Army Staff on 31 December 2016, ahead of two more senior generals. His term included the 2017 stand-off with Chinese troops at Doklam and a tougher approach in Kashmir, which drew both support and criticism.
The post of CDS was created in December 2019 to bring the three services together, and Rawat was the first to hold it, also heading a new Department of Military Affairs. He pushed for integrated theatre commands and more Indian-made equipment.
Death
On 8 December 2021 the Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying him from Sulur to the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington crashed in fog near Coonoor. Thirteen of the fourteen people on board died that day, including his wife, Madhulika; the lone survivor died a week later. An inquiry found that the helicopter had flown into cloud and the pilots had become disoriented. He was cremated in Delhi with full military honours.
Legacy
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Bipin Rawat born?
Bipin Rawat was born on 16 March 1958 in Pauri, Pauri Garhwal district, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand), India.
When did Bipin Rawat die?
Died: 8 December 2021, near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu (aged 63).
Featured image: General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, addresses the annual Army press conference, New Delhi, 13 January 2017. Photo by Ministry of Defence, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
