{"id":4089,"date":"2025-12-17T10:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T04:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2025-12-17T15:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T09:58:11","slug":"what-is-param-vir-chakra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-is-param-vir-chakra\/","title":{"rendered":"Param Vir Chakra"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Param Vir Chakra Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Portraits of all 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees are now on display at Rashtrapati Bhavan, replacing the previously displayed portraits of 96 British Aide-de-Camps (ADCs).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Param Vir Chakra<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>India\u2019s highest military decoration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, awarded for displaying the most <\/span><b>exceptional acts of valour, courage, and self-sacrifice during war.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was <\/span><b>introduced <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on <\/span><b>January 26, 1950,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the first Republic Day with <\/span><b>retrospective effect from 15 August 1947.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Literally<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Param Vir Chakra means \u2018<\/span><b>Wheel (or Cross) of the Ultimate Brave\u2019.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can be <\/span><b>awarded to officers, men, and women of all ranks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the <\/span><b>Army, the Navy, and the Air Force<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; of any of the <\/span><b>Reserve Forces,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the <\/span><b>Territorial Army<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Militia; and of any <\/span><b>other lawfully constituted Armed Forces.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can be, and often has been, <\/span><b>awarded posthumously.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is similar to the British Victoria Cross, the US Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honor, or the Russian Cross of St. George.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Design:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The medal was <\/span><b>designed by Mrs. Savitri Khanolkar.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The medal is<\/span><b> cast in bronze<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>circular <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in shape.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>In the centre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, on a raised circle, is the <\/span><b>state emblem, surrounded by four replicas of Indra\u2019s Vajra,<\/b> <b>flanked by the sword of Shivaji.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>On its reverse<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it shall have <\/span><b>embossed Param Vir Chakra both in Hindi and English <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with two lotus flowers between Hindi and English.\u00a0 The fitting will be swivel mounting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The decoration is suspended from a straight swiveling suspension bar and is held by a 32 mm purple ribbon.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>First winner: Major Somanth Sharma<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, from the <\/span><b>Kumaon regiment.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Till now, only 21 people<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had been given the Param Vir Chakra award, of which 14 are posthumous.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What are Gallantry Awards?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have been instituted by the Government of India to <\/span><b>honour the acts of bravery and sacrifice of the officers\/personnel of the Armed Forces<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, other lawfully constituted forces, and <\/span><b>civilians<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are<\/span><b> announced twice in a year<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 first on the occasion of the <\/span><b>Republic Day <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and then on the occasion of the I<\/span><b>ndependence Day.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the gallantry awards <\/span><b>may be awarded posthumously.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-are-gallantry-awards\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gallantry Awards<\/a><\/strong> in the <\/span><b>Order of Precedence:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Param Vir Chakra<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Ashoka Chakra<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Mahavir Chakra<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Kirti Chakra<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Vir Chakra<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Shaurya Chakra.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>President awards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the gallantry awards <\/span><b>to the awardees or their next of kin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the <\/span><b>Defence Investiture Ceremony held every year <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at the <\/span><b>Rashtrapati Bhawan.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the <\/span><b>Param Vir Chakra and the Ashoka Chakra<\/b> <b>are conferred <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by the President to the awardees on the <\/span><b>occasion of the Republic Day Parade at the Rajpath.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/portraits-of-param-vir-chakra-awardees-replace-british-adcs-at-rashtrapati-bhavan\/article70403423.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Param Vir Chakra is India\u2019s highest military decoration, awarded for displaying the most exceptional acts of valour, courage, and self-sacrifice during war. Read more about Param Vir Chakra, Design, First winner, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":78372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4257,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-4089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-param-vir-chakra","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}