73rd Independence Day 2019- Independence Day awards: Honouring India’s bravest

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and the pilots who dropped bombs on a terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan, were picked for gallantry awards announced on Wednesday.

The awards:

Kirti Chakra

It is the second-highest peacetime gallantry award. The medal is made of silver and is 1.375 inch in diameter, with a replica of Ashoka’s Chakra surrounded by a lotus wreath embossed on one side and the words Kirti Chakra on the other. The ribbon is green divided into three equal parts by two orange lines.

• Sapper Prakash Jadhav (posthumous): Jadhav killed militants in Kashmir while saving his fellow jawans.

• Harshpal Singh: Singh, a CRPF deputy commandant, received his fifth gallantry medal for a counter-terror op in Jammu.

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Vir Chakra

The award is the third-highest wartime gallantry award. The medal is of standard silver,

1.375 inch in diameter with a five-pointed heraldic star on one side and the words Vir Chakra on the other. The ribbon is half-blue, half-orange.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was awarded the third-highest wartime gallantry award for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 combat jet on February 27 – a day after the Balakot operation – before he was shot down and captured on the other side of Line of Control. This is the IAF’s first Vir Chakra since the Kargil war.

The pilots of the five Mirage 2000s who bombed the Jaish terror camp in Balakot too have been given awards

■ Wing Commander Pranav Raj

■ Squadron Leader Rahul Basoya

■ Squadron Leader Pankaj Arvind Bhujade

■ Squadron Leader B Karthik Narayan Reddy

■ Squadron Leader Shashank Singh

Shaurya Chakra

It is the third-highest peacetime gallantry award. The medal is made of bronze and is 1.375 inch in diameter. It has an embossed replica of Ashoka’s Chakra surrounded by a lotus wreath on one side and the words Shaurya Chakra on the other. The ribbon is green, divided by three vertical lines.

■ Lt Col Ajay Singh Kushwah

■ Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal (posthumous)

■ Captain Maheshkumar Bhure

■ Lance Naik Sandeep Singh (posthumous)

■ Sepoy Brajesh Kumar (posthumous)

■ Sepoy Hari Singh (posthumous)

■ Rifleman Ajveer Singh Chauhan

■ Rifleman Shive Kumar

(posthumous)

■ LME Amit Singh Rana

■ CRPF constable Sable Dnyaneshwar Shriram

■ SPO Ashiq Hussain Malik

(posthumous)

■ J&K police head constable

Subash Chander

■ Sub inspector Imran

Hussan Tak (posthumous)

Others honoured

Following officers were rewarded the Yudh Seva Medal for their role in the February 26-27 operations

■ Squadron leader Minty Aggarwal, played a crucial role as flight controller

■ Air Commodore

Sunil Kashinath Vidhate

■ Group Captain Yeshpal Singh Negi

■ Group Captain Hemant Kumar

■ Group Captain Hansel Joseph Sequeira