News Analysis India

Tag: Bipin Rawat

  • Always had strong personal vibes with General Rawat, say former Army friends

    Express News Service

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two former decorated top Indian Army officials from Kerala, who had served under General Bipin Rawat, were in a state of shock when the news of his death was confirmed by the Indian Air Force officials on Wednesday evening. Lt-Gen Sarath Chand, former vice-chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), and Lt-Gen Cherish Mathson, former general officer commanding-in-chief of Jaipur-based Sapta Shakti Command, had worked under Rawat when he was the Chief of Army Staff. 

    When General Rawat had come down to Southern Naval Command (SNC), Kochi , in early April this year in his capacity as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt-Gen Chand was looking forward to spending a few quiet moments with his former boss. But due to a busy schedule, Gen Rawat could not make it to Lt-Gen Chand’s house at Vyttila in Kochi.

    “If not for the pandemic, we would have met frequently. We had a wonderful innings together which dated back to our National Defence Academy days. While Gen Rawat belonged to the 53rd NDA batch and passed out in December 1978, I was in the 54th NDA batch and passed out in June 1979. When he reached the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he won the sword of honour and commanded the parade which was considered way above the gold medal,”

    Kottarakkara native Lt-Gen Chand told TNIE. Gen Rawat and Lt-Gen Mathson had travelled together several times in choppers with their respective spouses, Madhulika and Mareena, when the latter was based in Bhopal as a corps commander and in Jaipur as an Army commander. He told TNIE that essentially, helicopters are less stable platforms and, in the hills, sudden onrush of clouds or fog can disorient the pilot.    

    “I was a Strike Corps Commander when he was the Southern Army Commander, and I was the South Western Army Commander under him when he was the Chief. We always had excellent relations professionally and personally. We had travelled together in helicopters too… Never imagined that this would happen,” said Lt-Gen Mathson who is currently serving as an advisor to the country’s intelligence agencies in New Delhi.

  • CDS General Bipin Rawat: An outstanding, forthright military commander with vision of tri-service synergy

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A quintessential military commander, Gen Bipin Rawat possessed an uncanny understanding of geopolitical upheavals, calibrated a tri-services military doctrine to make India face myriad security challenges, and is largely credited with bringing down militancy in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.

    As India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Rawat was tasked to bring in theatre command and jointness among the three services, and he was pushing it with a tough approach and specific timelines in the last two years.

    Known to be forthright, fearless, and blunt at times, the outstanding military commander ruffled many feathers with his controversial remarks during his tenure as Army Chief and Chief of Defence Staff. 

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat was making ‘necessary adjustments’ among three forces, says former Army chief Shankar Roychowdhury

    He strongly backed a policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross-border terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir when he was the Army Chief between 2016 and 2019.

    Much before the Doklam standoff in 2017, Gen Rawat had highlighted that India’s primary and long-term security challenge would come from an increasingly assertive China and that India needed to modernise its armed forces to confront it.

    Gen Rawat had also played a major role in successfully carrying out the 2015 cross-border operation into Myanmar in response to a major ambush by Naga militants.

    ALSO READ: CCS briefed about helicopter crash leading to CDS General Bipin Rawat’s death – Official sources

    He was also part of the planning when India carried out surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-Occupied Kashmir that inflicted significant casualties on the adversary.

    Gen Rawat was the Chief of Army Staff when Indian fighter jets pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan’s Balakot, and was reportedly part of the decision-making process and provided key inputs for the operation.

    The first sitting Chief of Army Staff to be appointed as the CDS, Gen Rawat had an illustrious career spanning over four decades during which he served with distinction in several conflict-ridden areas, including Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

    ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh loses daughter Madhulika and son-in-law General Bipin Rawat

    In 2017, Gen Rawat faced criticism for awarding the Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation card to Major Leetul Gogoi for efforts in counter-insurgency operations.

    Gogoi had tied a man to his military jeep purportedly as a shield against stone pelters during the 2017 Srinagar by-election.

    In 2019, his comments relating to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act triggered criticism.

    ALSO READ: CDS Bipin Rawat death – Timeline of the horrific chopper crash

    In September, Gen Rawat talked about the theory of “clash of civilisations” while mentioning the western civilisation and China’s growing relations with countries like Iran and Turkey A day later, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar sought to distance the government from the controversial comments and said India had never subscribed to any clash of civilisations theory.

    Rawat was born in Pauri, Uttarakhand, on March 16, 1958.

    His family had been serving in the Indian Army for multiple generations.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat will be remembered as outstanding leader, says former Army chief JJ Singh

    His father Laxman Singh Rawat was from Sainj village of the Pauri Garhwal district and rose to the rank of Lt General.

    Rawat attended Cambrian Hall School in Dehradun and the St.Edward’s School, Shimla.

    He was a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat had assured to set up ‘sainik school’ in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol, recalls his brother-in-law

    Rawat was commissioned into the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles on December 16, 1978, As a Colonel, he commanded the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles in the Eastern sector along the Line of Actual Control at Kibithu.

    Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, he commanded 5 Sector of Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore.

    He then commanded a multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in Congo under UN mission.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat paid last visit to Nagpur in November to see prototypes of weaponised drones

    After promotion to Major General, Rawat took over as the General Officer Commanding 19th Infantry Division at Uri.

    As a Lt General, he commanded III Corps headquartered in Dimapur before taking over the Southern Army in Pune.

    He was appointed as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command on 1 January 2016 and months later became the Vice Chief of Army Staff.

    ALSO READ: Tearful uncle recalls CDS General Bipin Rawat’s last visit to native village

    In December 2016, he was appointed as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff, superseding two senior Lt Generals, Praveen Bakshi and P M Hariz.

    He is survived by two daughters.

  • Coonoor crash grim reminder of similar accident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch in 1963

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Mi-17V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 others brought back memories of a 1963 chopper accident in which six officers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch.

    The crash in Poonch is considered as one of the major air accidents in the country’s military aviation history.

    The military officers killed in the chopper crash on November 22, 1963 were Lieutenant General Daulat Singh, Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, Air Vice Marshal EW Pinto, Major General KND Nanavati, Brigadier SR Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant SS Sodhi.

    The crash in Coonoor is also a grim reminder of the 1952 Devon crash near Lucknow, in which the Indian Army’s top leadership could have been lost.

    Lieutenant General SM Shrinagesh, the then General Officer Commanding in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command, and Major General KS Thimayya, the QuarterMaster General, had miraculously survived the crash.

    Both of them went on to become Army chiefs.

    Other officials on board the chopper were Major General SPP Thorat, Major General Mohinder Singh Chopra, Major General Sardanand Singh and Brigadier Ajaib Singh.

    Major General Thorat later became the Eastern Army commander.

    The pilot of the Devon aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, was conferred with the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, for his presence of mind in averting any loss of lives.

    In 2019, former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh and eight other armed forces personnel were injured in a chopper crash in the Poonch sector.

    The lone survivor in the Coonor crash, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington.

    Rawat had survived a helicopter crash in 2015, when he was a lieutenant general.

    The CDS was scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.

    Those killed in the crash included Brigadier LS Lidder, the military adviser to the CDS, and staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh.

  • Subramanian Swamy seeks probe by SC Judge into helicopter crash that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat

    By PTI

    UDUPI: Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday sought a probe by a senior Supreme Court Judge into the helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others.

    The former Union Minister termed the incident as “shocking” and a big caution to national security.

    “…final report has not come, so it is very difficult for me to say anything, but the mere fact that a military aircraft in a safe zone like Tamil Nadu, has blown up, it appears to be,” Swamy said.

    ALSO READ: CCS briefed about helicopter crash leading to CDS General Bipin Rawat’s death – Official sources

    Speaking to reporters here, he said, “it is something that requires very very serious investigation…the public has to be taken into confidence, so somebody, a senior Supreme Court Judge, should investigate the matter.”

    The copter carrying General Rawat, appointed as CDS in 2019, and his entourage crashed on Wednesday, in apparently foggy conditions, killing the 13 people on board, the IAF and other officials said.

    One person survived the crash and is being treated at a hospital.

  • Chopper crash: Madhya Pradesh loses daughter Madhulika and son-in-law General Bipin Rawat

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: The country’s highest ranked military officer Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat had an inseparable bond with Madhya Pradesh.

    General Rawat’s better half Madhulika Rawat, who died with her husband in Wednesday’s helicopter crash, hailed from the erstwhile royal family of Sohagpur Riyasat in Shahdol district of MP. They were married in 1985.

    Madhulika’s father Kunwar Mrigendra Singh was not only the Riyasatdar of Sohagpur Riyasat in Shadol district, but was also the Congress MLA from the district in 1967 and 1972.

    ALSO READ: Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, 12 others confirmed dead in TN chopper crash

    General Rawat’s brother-in-law Yashvardhan Singh was in Bhopal with his shooter daughter, who was featuring in a national level shooting competition, when he got a call from the Army, asking him to reach Delhi urgently.

    “I haven’t got authentic info about the tragic helicopter crash as even General Rawat’s ADC was in the same copter, but the Army has asked us to reach Delhi urgently. The signals suggest that something very serious has happened. I and my wife are flying to Delhi from Bhopal, while my mother will be reaching Jabalpur from Shahdol to fly to Delhi,” Singh said before the news was confirmed.

    Singh recounted that recently his family in Shahdol had talked to General Rawat and wife Madhulika over the phone and the couple had promised to visit there in the new year. Madhulika, who was an alumnus of Gwalior’s prestigious Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, had last visited Sohagpur in 2012.

  • Army helicopter carrying defence chief Bipin Rawat crashes; TN minister says 11 dead

    By Express News Service

    COIMBATORE: As many as eleven bodies have been recovered, according to TN Forest Minister K Ramachandran, after an Army helicopter carrying Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat crashed near Coonoor in the nearby hilly Nilgiris district on Wednesday.

    Ramachandran had earlier told The New Indian Express that on the instruction of Chief Minister MK Stalin he had rushed to the accident spot and was overseeing the rescue operation. 

    He said 14 persons were in the helicopter but added defence sources have not confirmed other details.

    The Minister said the accident took place because of thick mist engulfing the area. 

    Fire Service personnel as also local people were helping in the rescue operations but as the site of the accident is narrow, they were finding it difficult to move about in large numbers, Ramachandran had said. 

    Nilgiris district collector SP Amrith too confirmed to The New Indian Express that 14 people including the Chief of Defence Staff Rawat were on board the helicopter that crashed near Coonoor. 

    The 14 included General Rawat’s wife Madhulika Rawat, Brig LS Lidder, Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik B Sai Teja and Havaldar Satpal, according to sources.

    Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash. He also paid a visit to General Rawat’s residence. The Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari has been asked to head to the accident site.

    Army Helicopter crash near Coonoor: CM MK Stalin to reach Coimbatore this evening; to visit Coonoor; Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu holds discussions with senior officials and with Nilgiris District Collector @xpresstn @NewIndianXpress
    — T Muruganandham (@muruga_TNIE) December 8, 2021
    The Defence Minister is expected to brief parliament on Thursday.

    The chopper was on its way from the Sulur IAF base to the Defence Services College (DSC) at Wellington when it crashed.

    The first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat is an alumnus of St. Edward School, Shimla and the National Defence Academy. He assumed office as the Chief of the Army Staff on 31 Dec 2016 and was elevated to his current role on January 1, 2020.

    WATCH |

  • Data Protection Bill needs to be cleared soon as data theft is common crime: CDS Bipin Rawat

    By PTI

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Friday said the Data Protection Bill, tabled in 2019 in Parliament, needs to get cleared at the earliest as data theft has become a common crime in the virtual world.

    Rawat, while inaugurating the 14th edition of ‘c0c0n’, an annual Hacking and Cyber Security Briefing, organised by Kerala Police, said there was a need to synergise the efforts of cyber security experts of various government departments in order to “secure our digital assets”.

    The CDS said that India doesn’t have a dedicated cyber security law and there was a need for a framework for managing virtual space at national level. “There is a need for a framework for managing virtual space at national level. Multiple government agencies deal with cyber security. Our defence services have cyber experts and state police have cyber cells. There is a need to synergise the efforts of these experts working with different government ministries and other private sector entities towards a common goal of effectively securing our digital assets,” Rawat said.

    In his virtual address, Rawat said the rise of digital payments have significantly increased complex cyber crimes and the IT Act 2000, which was amended in 2008 needs to be updated further putting in place cyber security standards in line with the nature of information and assets.

    “Data protection is yet another crucial issue that we need to look at. Most nations have data protection laws. The Data Protection Bill tabled in 2019 is yet to reach finality. We need to work together to get it cleared at the earliest as data theft has become a common crime in the virtual world,” he said.

    Rawat noted that according to estimates, cyber crimes in India during the global pandemic have gone up by almost 500 per cent. “Cyber criminals take advantage of security vulnerabilities to steal data, generate profits and cause disruption. Hence cyber security is now not just the purview of few IT professionals but of each and every individual of the team,” he said.

    Rawat congratulated Kerala police “for taking the lead and battling the dark forces in the cyberspace”. “The first step on the way to victory is to recognise the threat. Hence at the very outset, I must congratulate Kerala police for taking the initiative to recognise and acknowledge this all important non-contact domain of warfare. Identification, discussions and deliberations are preliminary phases to develop pragmatic solutions and initiate actions that can mitigate threats,” he said.

    The conference, which is being conducted by Kerala Police in association with two non-profit organisations, Society for the Policing of Cyberspace( POLCYB ) and Information Security Research Association (ISRA), would be primarily discussing online scams and defenses during the lockdown period.

    State police chief Anilkant said this year various challenges of crypto currencies, digital warfare and role of nation states among other issues will be discussed. The conference is being held virtually so that people from across the globe can attend the event as the 13th edition of ‘c0c0n’ last year saw more than 6,000 attendees from around the world.

    The conference aims to discuss at the international level the challenges facing the digital world during the COVID period and the solutions needed to overcome them. The theme of this year’s ‘c0c0n’ is – Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.

    National and international experts will speak on various issues during the conference, which will conclude tomorrow, including cyber attacks on critical infrastructures, quantum computing, automotive cyber security, drone attacks detections using deep learning, data security and privacy, cyber espionage and cyber warfare.

    To encourage more women into cyber security and to offer them equal opportunity to rise to senior leadership roles, the Kerala police is inviting more women, who play prominent roles in cyber security, as speakers for the 14th edition of ‘c0c0n’.

  • Mehbooba Mufti slams CDS Gen Bipin Rawat’s remarks on wanting further curbs in J&K

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday charged that “repression” was the Centre’s only method to deal with the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Reacting to the remarks by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat warning of further curbs in Kashmir to tackle the recent violence, Mehbooba also said his statement “contradicts” the official narrative that all is well in the valley.

    “Even after turning Kashmir into an open air prison, Bipin Rawat’s statement comes as no surprise because repression is GOIs only method to deal with the situation in J&K. It also contradicts their official narrative that all is well here,” she alleged on Twitter.

    While delivering the first Ravi Kant Singh Memorial Lecture in Assam on Saturday, Rawat said the freedom of movement that people in Jammu & Kashmir were starting to enjoy in recent times may be disrupted due to the current situation and urged for people’s cooperation in tackling the situation.

    The PDP chief wondered what more measures were left to be implemented after “stringent, harsh & repressive measures” like “mass arrests”, suspension of internet at will, and setting up new security bunkers.

    “After taking such stringent, harsh & repressive measures like mass arrests, suspension of internet at will, frisking people (not sparing even kids), seizing bikes plus two wheelers & setting up new security bunkers all over what is left to do?” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.

  • India needs to address consequences of instability in neighbourhood: CDS General Bipin Rawat

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Saturday stressed that the country needs to ensure that the consequences of instability in its neighbourhood are addressed.He also said there is a possibility of threat to Jammu and Kashmir as well as to the North-eastern region due to the situation in Afghanistan which the Taliban has taken over a few months ago but the threat can be negated by working on internal monitoring.

    “India’s national security landscape is stressed on account of security scenario emerging from subcontinental threats…We need to address consequences of instability and volatility in our immediate and extended neighbourhood and it remains our immediate priority,” Gen Rawat said.

    ALSO READ: Danger to stability in South Asia due to China’s ambitions, Sino-Pak nexus ‘anti-Indian’, says CDS General Bipin Rawat

    Delivering the first Ravi Kant Singh Memorial Lecture here, he said a close watch should be kept on the situation in Myanmar as well as the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with the danger of the latter being exploited by fundamentalist elements.

    He also said India’s relations with Bhutan and Nepal have always been robust and any issues with these countries have been addressed in a positive manner.

    Gen Rawat said internal security challenges of the NE region have serious international dimensions as extremist outfits have connectivity, including hideouts across the border, and their members frequently use porous borders to escape security forces.

    ALSO READ: China’s tech advances in cyber, space domains most worrisome, says CDS General Bipin Rawat

    He, however, added that in recent years there has been a reduction of violence in the NE region and lauded the combined efforts of security agencies and civil society for achieving it.

    Gen Rawat said it was crucial that the land link of the region with the rest of the country is maintained through the Siliguri corridor.

    This vulnerable corridor will always remain a cause of concern and any attempt to block it by any element must be nipped in the bud, he added.

    ALSO READ: Procuring advanced surveillance systems is Indian armed forces’ topmost priority, says CDS Bipin Rawat

    “India has to be on alert of the possible impact of the situation in Afghanistan in Jammu and Kashmir. We have to seal our borders. Internal monitoring is essential,” he told a press conference.

    To a question if the change in regime in Afghanistan could pose danger to Assam and the Northeast, Rawat said a ‘likely threat’ could be there.

    “We have to defend ourselves. We need to educate our people on the need to be conscious of their own security,” he said.

    ALSO READ: India’s armed forces are ready to deal with any security challenge, says CDS Bipin Rawat

    The North-eastern region, especially Assam, is advantageously positioned to project India’s soft power to the world, the chief of defence staff said.

    “North East region including Assam is a land of potential. In fact, it has the potential to be the pivot for projection of soft power of India in the regional countries,” Gen Rawat said.

    He stressed the need for developing multi-model connectivity through development of means of transportations to access ASEAN and other markets.

    He also highlighted the potential of developing the manufacturing and services sector in the NE region, which can help it cater to the international market.

  • Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat says Curbs may return to Kashmir, accuse Pakistan of proxy war

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat on Saturday accused Pakistan of carrying out a proxy war even as he said the curbs enforced in the aftermath of the scrapping of Article 370 may return to the Kashmir Valley.

    He said Pakistan’s proxy war was aimed at creating a fear-psychosis as “a semblance of peace and tranquility was happening” in Jammu & Kashmir.

    Speaking at the 1st Ravi Kant Singh Memorial lecture series in Guwahati, he said whenever Jammu & Kashmir was relatively peaceful, Pakistan would create a situation where innocent people would be killed to generate fear.

    “We should not allow the exodus to happen at all. The adversary will always try to do something to make us fall into a trap,” Gen Rawat said, referring to the recent killings of Kashmiri Pundits, Sikhs and migrant workers in the Valley.

    He said in the wake of the civilian killings, the intelligence network was being strengthened and the monitoring of people intensified there.

    “People do not like the armed forces to become intrusive but we will have to get back into this fold again and carry out activities to ensure the terrorists do not carry out any activity,” Gen Rawat said.

    Talking about the standoff with China, he admitted the delay in the resolution of issues but added they were getting resolved faster than in the 1980s.