On the eve of the 69th Republic Day, President Ram Nath Kovind stamped his seal of approval on the award of one Ashok Chakra, one Kirti Chakra and 14 Shaurya Chakras among a total of 390 gallantry and other defence decorations to personnel of the armed forces and the paramilitary forces.
The awards were for demonstrating gallantry in the insurgency-affected zones of J&K and Nagaland and the Left Wing Extremism affected zone of Chhattisgarh.
The Ashok Chakra, the country’s highest peacetime military decoration for gallantry, was posthumously awarded to IAF Garud commando Corporal Jyoti Prakash Nirala, who laid down his life while gunning down two terrorists in J%K on November 18 last year.
Attached to a Rashtriya Rifles Battalion, Corporal Nirala shot dead two top terrorists and wounded two others during an offensive operation mounted on the basis of specific information before a volley of small arms fire fatally hit him in Chanderger village of Bandipora district in J&K.
The Kirti Chakra was awarded to Major Vijayant Bist from the J&K light infantry.!