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Vir Chakra
Vir Chakra and its ribbon, the third highest military decoration of India
Type	Medal
Awarded for	Acts of gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land or at sea or in the air.
Country	Republic of India
Presented by	Republic of India
Eligibility	Military Personnel Only
Post-nominals	VrC
Status	Currently Awarded
First awarded	1947
Last awarded	2021
Total awarded posthumously	362
Total recipients	1335 (As of 2023)
Precedence
Next (higher)	Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Equivalent	Shaurya Chakra
Next (lower)	Yudh Seva Medal

The Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋiːɾa tʃakɾa, lit. 'wheel of bravery') is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, on land or in the air or at sea.

It is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

Origin

It was established by the President of India on 26 January 1950 (with effect from 15 August 1947). The statutes were amended on 12 January 1952 to readjust the order of wearing as new decorations were established.

It replaced the British Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Military Cross (MC) and Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Award of the decoration carries with it the right to use Vr.C. as a postnominal abbreviation [note the care to distinguish this abbreviation from that for the Victoria Cross (V.C.)

Appearance

The medal is 1+3⁄8inch circular silver medal. A five pointed star, with the chakra in the centre, and, on this, the domed gilded state emblem. The decoration is named on the rim and suspended from a swiveling straight-bar suspender. The decoration is almost always named and dated on the edge. Around a plain centre, two legends are separated by lotus flowers; with Vir Chakra in Hindi above and in English below. The ribbon is 32 mm, half dark blue and half orange-saffron; dark blue 16 mm, saffron 16 mm.

The award carries with it a cash allowance and, in some cases, a lump sum cash award. This has been a rather controversial issue throughout the life of the decoration. From 1 February 1999, the central government set a monthly stipend of Rs. 850 for recipients of the award. In addition, many states have established individual pension rewards for the recipients of the decoration.

List of Vir Chakra recipients

A total of 1327 personnel received Vir Chakra. Some of the notable Vir Chakra awardees include:

References

1. "Awardees". Gallantry Awards. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16.
2. ^ "Precedence Of Medals". indianarmy.nic.in/. Indian Army. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
3. "TDA - The Defence Aspirant Academy". tdaacademy.in. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
4. "Vir Chakra". Archived from the original on 2002-12-05.
5. "Vir Chakra: India's Third Highest Gallantry Award".
6. "Statutes and rules relating to the awards of the Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Air Chakra". 1 January 1970 (amendment of 1950 version).
7. "Bharat Raksahk Monitor: Volume 3(6)". Bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
8. "Awardees". MoD, GOI. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
9. "Major TGN Pai". Gallantry Awards.
10. "Jemadar Kanikasami". Gallantry Awards.
11. "Brigadier Harbaksh Singh". Gallantry Awards.
12. "Subedar Major and Hony Captain (then Subedar) BHIM CHAND" (PDF). gallantryawards.gov.in.
13. "Subedar Major and Honorary Captain (then Subedar) BHIM CHAND Vir Chakra". gallantryawards.gov.in.
14. "Air Vice Marshal Ranjan Dutt". Gallantry Awards.
15. "Major Tirath Singh Oberoi". twdi.in. Gallantry Awards.
16. "Wing Commander Krishan Kant Saini". Gallantry Awards.
17. "Lieutenant General Zorawar Chand Bakshi". Gallantry Awards.
18. "Wing Commander Trevor Keelor". Gallantry Awards.
19. "Flight Lieutenant Virendera Singh Pathania". Gallantry Awards.
20. "Group Captain Virendera Singh Pathania".
21. "Air Commodore Alfred Tyrone Cooke". Gallantry Awards.
22. "Naib Subedar Ganesh Datt". Gallantry Awards.
23. "Wing Commander Amarjit Singh Sandhu". Gallantry Awards.
24. "Service Record for Wing Commander Amar Jit Singh Sandhu 4705 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
25. "Air Marshal Denzil Keelor". Gallantry Awards.
26. "Lieutenant General Mohammad Ahmad Zaki". Gallantry Awards.
27. "Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas". Gallantry Awards.
28. "Brigadier JK Tomar". Gallantry Awards.
29. "Lieutenant Colonel Satish Nambiar". Gallantry Awards.
30. "Brigadier P V Sahadevan". Gallantry Awards.
31. "Lieutenant Colonel Vikram Denkar". Gallantry Awards.
32. "Captain Satish Chander Sehgal". Gallantry Awards.
33. "Air Commodore Jasjit Singh". Gallantry Awards.
34. "Havildar Gurdev Singh". Gallantry Awards.
35. "Squadron Leader Ramesh Chander Kohli". Gallantry Awards.
36. "Admiral Arun Prakash". Gallantry Awards.
37. "Wing Commander Sukhdev Singh Dhillon". Gallantry Awards.
38. "Squadron Leader M A Ganapathy". Gallantry Awards.
39. "Group Captain Donald 'Don' Lazarus". Gallantry Awards.
40. "In 1971, the Indian Air Force shot down 3 Pakistani planes within 3 minutes". Archived from the original on 2021-08-03.
41. "Flight Lieutenant Lawrence Frederic Pereira". Gallantry Awards.
42. "Naik Naib Singh Gill". Gallantry Awards.
43. "Lieutenant-General Francis Tiburtius Dias". Gallantry Awards.
44. "VrC Major Ngangom Joy Dutta Singh". Gallantry Awards.
45. "Major General Dalvir Singh". Gallantry Awards.
46. "Lieutenant Commander Deepak Agarwal". Gallantry Awards.
47. "Vir Chakra (VrC) Awardee: Nk Kamkholam Kuki, VrC".
48. "Vir Chakra Awardee Capt Abdul Naseer Flew MI-17 Tirelessly to Help India Win Siachen in 1987". 11 November 2017.
49. "Flight Lieutenant Abdul Naseer Hanfee". Gallantry Awards.
50. "Captain Jintu Gogoi". Gallantry Awards.
51. "Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja". Gallantry Awards.
52. "Colonel Magod Basappa Ravindranath". Gallantry Awards.
53. "Lieutenant Colonel Ramakrishnan Vishwanathan". Gallantry Awards.
54. "L/Havildar Ram Kumar". Gallantry Awards.
55. "Major Mariappan Saravanan". Gallantry Awards.
56. "Colonel Lalit Rai". Gallantry Awards.
57. "Lt Col Yogesh Kumar Joshi". Gallantry Awards.
58. "Captain Sanjeev Singh Jamwal". Gallantry Awards.
59. "Gunner Sanjeev Gopala Pillai". Gallantry Awards.
60. "Captain Vijyant Thapar". Gallantry Awards.
61. "Havildar Chuni Lal". Gallantry Awards.
62. "Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman". Gallantry Awards.
63. "Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren". Gallantry Awards.
64. "Naik Deepak Singh". Gallantry Awards.
65. "Sepoy Gurtej Singh". Gallantry Awards.
66. "magal singh sisodiya". Gallantry Awards.

Further reading

• Cardozo, Ian (2003). Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle. New Delhi: Roli Books. ISBN 978-81-7436-262-9.

External links

• Vir Chakra awardees, TWDI

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• 1950 establishments in India
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