Ashoka Chakra (military decoration)


The Ashoka Chakra is India's highest peacetime military decoration. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra and is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice". The decoration may be awarded either to military personnel or civilians by the Government of India.
The circular medal consists of Ashoka Chakra surrounded by a lotus wreath on the front. The obverse consists of "Ashoka Chakra" written in Devanagari along the upper edge on the medal and in English along the lower rim. It is suspended by a straight bar suspender from a green ribbon with a central saffron stripe.
, there have been 87 recipients of the award. Of these, 68 have been posthumous recipients, and 17 have been civilians. Havildar Bachittar Singh of the Indian Army was the first recipient of the award, in 1952. D. K. Jatar, a pilot of Air India's Kashmir Princess was the first civilian recipient of the award, in 1955. Only two women have ever been awarded the Ashok Chakra, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot in 1987 and police constable Kamlesh Kumari in 2001. Two non-Indians, cosmonauts Gennadi Strekalov and Yuri Malyshev were given the award in 1984. Indian Air Force officer Shubhanshu Shukla, decorated in 2026, is the most recent awardee.

Description

The medal was originally established on 4 January 1952 as the "Ashoka Chakra, Class I" by the President of India deemed to have been in effect from 15 August 1947. It was the highest class of the three gallantry awards established at the time. In January 1967, the award was renamed as Ashok Chakra with the other two classes renamed as Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra respectively. The awards are given out twice a year- during the Republic Day and Independence Day. Though the Ashok Chakra is placed below the Param Vir Chakra in the order of precedence, it is considered to be the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra. The award includes a medal, and a monthly stipend of.

Eligibility

The Ashok Chakra can be awarded to all enlisted officers of the Indian Armed Forces including the Indian Army, Indian Airforce, and Indian Navy, the Indian Territorial Army, reserve personnel, and any other legally constituted armed force. Nursing members of the armed forces are also eligible for the award. Police personnel including the Central Armed Police Forces, and the Railway Protection Force are also eligible for the award. The award can also be given to any civilian at the discretion of the Government of India. It is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice" during times other than war.

Design

The medal is circular with a diameter of. It has prominent rims and is made of gold gilding. On the front side, it has a replica of the Ashok Chakra surrounded by a wreath of sacred lotus. In the reverse, the words "Ashok Chakra" are embossed in Devanagri on the top and English towards the bottom edge. These are separated by a lotus flowers on either side. The medal is suspended by a straight bar suspender from a green ribbon with a central saffron stripe. If a recipient receives subsequent such awards, more bars are added to the ribbon by which the medal is suspended.

Recipients

, the medal has been awarded to 87 awardees, of which 68 were to posthumous recipients. Havildar Bachittar Singh of the Indian Army was the first recipient of the award for his part in the Operation Polo in 1948. Flight lieutenant Suhas Biswas was the first member of the Indian Air Force to be commemorated with the award in 1953. Flight captain D. K. Jatar, who was the pilot of the bombed Air India flight 300, was the first civilian recipient of the award in 1955. Only two women have ever been awarded the Ashok Chakra, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot in 1987 and police constable Kamlesh Kumari in 2001 for their actions during the hijack of Pan Am Flight 73 and 2001 Indian Parliament attack respectively.
Two non-Indians, cosmonauts Gennadi Strekalov and Yuri Malyshev were given the award in 1984 for their Soyuz T-11 mission which also carried Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to space. Paratrooper Sanjog Chhetri was the youngest awardee at 20 years of age, when he was killed in the counter terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair was the only recipient of both the Ashok Chakra and Kirti Chakra, the two highest peacetime honours.
†Indicates posthumous honour
^Indicates non-Indian recipient

YearRecipientRankEntityAction
1952Bachittar Singh†HavildarIndian ArmyOperation Polo
1952Narbahadur ThapaNaikIndian ArmyOperation Polo
1953Suhas BiswasFlight LieutenantIndian Air ForceStricken flight landing
1955D. K. Jatar†Flight CaptainAir IndiaKashmir Princess bombing
1956Sundar SinghLance NaikIndian ArmyKashmir conflict
1957Jagannath Raoji Chitnis†Lieutenant ColonelIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1957Joginder Singh†HavildarIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1957Pollur Mutthuswamy Raman†Second LieutenantIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1958Eric James Tucker†CaptainIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1962Khadka Bahadur Limbu†Subedar MajorIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1962Man Bahadur RaiCaptainIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1965Chaman Lal†FirefighterTrain fire
1965Lajja Ram†CivilianDacoit attack
1965Purshottam†CivilianDacoit attack
1965Tej Singh†CivilianDacoit attack
1967Shankar Lal Shrivastava†Head ConstableMadhya Pradesh PoliceDacoit attack
1968Takhat Singh†CivilianDacoit attack
1968Dhanpat SinghCivilianDacoit attack
1968Govind SinghCivilianDacoit attack
1968Hukum SinghCivilianDacoit attack
1968Lakhan SinghCivilianDacoit attack
1969Jas Ram SinghCaptainIndian ArmyMizo insurgency
1971Baij Nath Singh†CivilianDacoit attack
1972Bhure LalConstableMadhya Pradesh PoliceDacoit attack
1972Ummed Singh Mahra†CaptainIndian ArmyNagaland insurgency
1974Gurnam Singh†Naib SubedarIndian ArmyMine explosion
1974Munni LalCivilianDacoit attack
1981Cyrus Addie PithawallaSecond LieutenantIndian ArmyManipur insurgency
1984Gennadi Strekalov^Flight EngineerRoscosmosSoyuz T-11
1984Yury Malyshev^ColonelSoviet Air ForcesSoyuz T-11
1985Bhawani Datt Joshi†NaikIndian ArmyOperation Blue Star
1985Bhukant Mishra†MajorIndian ArmyOperation Blue Star
1985Chhering MutupLance HavildarIndian ArmySiachen conflict
1985Jasbir Singh RainaCaptainIndian ArmyOperation Blue Star
1985Nirbhay Singh Sisodiya†NaikIndian ArmyOperation Blue Star
1985Ram Prakash Roperia†LieutenantIndian ArmyOperation Blue Star
1985Rakesh SharmaWing CommanderIndian Air ForceSoyuz T-11
1986Vijay Jagirdar†Civilian1984 anti-Sikh riots
1987Neerja Bhanot†Pan AmPan Am Flight 73 hijack
1991Randhir Prasad Verma†Superintendent of PoliceBihar PoliceBank robbery
1992Sandeep Sankhla†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1993Rakesh Singh Malhan†Second LieutenantIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1994Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair†ColonelIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1995Harsh Uday Singh Gaur†Lieutenant ColonelIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1995Rajiv Kumar Joon†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1995Sujjan Singh Yadav†SubedarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1996Arun Singh Jasrotia†CaptainIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1997Puneet Nath Datt†Second LieutenantIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
1997Shanti Swaroop Rana†Lieutenant ColonelIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2000Sudhir Kumar Walia†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2001Jagdish Prasad Yadav†Rajya Sabha secretariat2001 Indian Parliament attack
2001Matbar Singh Negi†Rajya Sabha secretariat2001 Indian Parliament attack
2001Kamlesh Kumari Yadav†ConstableCentral Reserve Police Force2001 Indian Parliament attack
2002Surinder Singh†SubedarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2002Rambeer Singh Tomar†NaikIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2003Suresh Chand Yadav†Subedar MajorNational Security GuardAkshardham Temple attack
2004Sanjog Chhetri†ParatrooperIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2004Triveni Singh†LieutenantIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2007Chuni Lal†Naib SubedarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2007Radhakrishnan Nair Harshan†CaptainIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2007Vasanth Venugopal†ColonelIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2008Dinesh Raghu Raman†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2009Ashok Kamte†Additional CommissionerMaharashtra Police2008 Mumbai attacks
2009Bahadur Singh Bohra†HavildarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2009Gajender Singh Bisht†HavildarNational Security Guard2008 Mumbai attacks
2009Hemant Karkare†Joint CommissionerMaharashtra Police2008 Mumbai attacks
2009Jojan Thomas†ColonelIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2009Mohan Chand Sharma†InspectorDelhi PoliceBatla House encounter
2009Pramod Kumar Satapathy†Assistant Commandant of PoliceOdisha PoliceNaxalite–Maoist insurgency
2009R. P. Diengdoh†Deputy SuperintendentMeghalaya PoliceMeghalaya Insurgency
2009Sandeep Unnikrishnan†MajorNational Security Guard2008 Mumbai attacks
2009Tukaram Omble†Assistant Sub-InspectorMaharashtra Police2008 Mumbai attacks
2009Vijay Salaskar†InspectorMaharashtra Police2008 Mumbai attacks
2010D. Sreeram KumarMajorIndian ArmyManipur insurgency
2010Mohit Sharma†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2010Rajesh Kumar†HavildarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2011Laishram Jyotin Singh†MajorIndian ArmyFebruary 2010 Kabul attack
2012Navdeep Singh†LieutenantIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2014Mukund Varadarajan†MajorIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2014Neeraj Kumar Singh†NaikIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2014K. Prasad Babu†Sub-InspectorAndhra Pradesh PoliceNaxalite–Maoist insurgency
2016Mohan Nath Goswami†Lance NaikIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2017Hangpan Dada†HavildarIndian ArmyKashmir insurgency
2018Jyoti Prakash Nirala†CorporalIndian Air ForceKashmir insurgency
2019Nazir Ahmad Wani†Lance NaikTerritorial ArmyKashmir insurgency
2021Babu Ram†Assistant Sub-InspectorJammu and Kashmir PoliceKashmir insurgency
2026Shubhanshu ShuklaGroup CaptainIndian Air ForceAxiom Mission 4

Summary