On 14 August 2026, on the eve of the 80th Independence Day, President Smt Droupadi Murmu approved 78 Gallantry awards — including 13 posthumous — to personnel of the Defence Forces and the Central Armed Police Forces, along with 89 Mention-in-Despatches.
For an NDA aspirant, no topic in the entire syllabus is more certainly examined than the gallantry awards hierarchy, and none is more certainly asked at the SSB. It is also the one topic where the facts and the meaning point the same way: these are the decorations a candidate is, in a real sense, preparing to be eligible for.
The awards approved
| Award | Number | Of which posthumous |
|---|---|---|
| Kirti Chakra | 9 | 7 |
| Bar to Shaurya Chakra | 1 | — |
| Shaurya Chakra | 19 | 1 |
| Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry) | 5 | — |
| Sena Medal (Gallantry) | 36 | 5 |
| Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry) | 3 | — |
| Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) | 5 | — |
| Total | 78 | 13 |
Plus 89 Mention-in-Despatches.
Two features of the list are worth noticing. First, seven of the nine Kirti Chakras are posthumous — the second-highest peacetime gallantry award is being given overwhelmingly to those who did not survive the action. Second, the recipients span Para (Special Forces), Rashtriya Rifles, Assam Rifles, the Territorial Army, the Navy and the Air Force, alongside police and central armed police personnel under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Peacetime gallantry in India is largely earned in counter-insurgency and internal security operations, and the composition of this list reflects exactly that.
Separately, 1,057 personnel of the Police, Fire, Home Guard & Civil Defence and Correctional Services were awarded gallantry and service medals, and the President also approved the President's Medal for Distinguished Service and the Medal for Meritorious Service.
The two series — the single most important idea
India has two parallel series of gallantry decorations, distinguished not by rank or by service but by the circumstances of the act:
| Wartime series — "in the face of the enemy" | Peacetime series — "away from the field of battle" | |
|---|---|---|
| First | Param Vir Chakra (PVC) | Ashoka Chakra (AC) |
| Second | Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) | Kirti Chakra (KC) |
| Third | Vir Chakra (VrC) | Shaurya Chakra (SC) |
All six were instituted on 26 January 1950, with effect from 15 August 1947.
The combined order of precedence is where candidates go wrong. The two series do not run one after the other; they interleave:
Param Vir Chakra → Ashoka Chakra → Maha Vir Chakra → Kirti Chakra → Vir Chakra → Shaurya Chakra
The rule to remember: the Ashoka Chakra outranks the Maha Vir Chakra, and the Kirti Chakra outranks the Vir Chakra. A question that asks for "the correct order of precedence" is almost always testing precisely this interleaving.
Note also that the peacetime series was originally styled Ashoka Chakra Class I, II and III, and was renamed in 1967 to Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra.
The Param Vir Chakra — the facts to carry
- The highest military decoration in India, awarded for most conspicuous bravery or self-sacrifice in the presence of the enemy.
- It was designed by Savitri Khanolkar — born Eve Yvonne Maday de Maros, of Swiss-Hungarian parentage, who married an Indian Army officer and immersed herself in Indian culture. The design draws on Indra's vajra, made from the sage Dadhichi's bones.
- The first recipient was Major Somnath Sharma of 4 Kumaon, posthumously, for the Battle of Badgam in the 1947-48 Jammu & Kashmir operations.
- The Ashoka Chakra is its peacetime equivalent, awarded for the same degree of valour or self-sacrifice other than in the face of the enemy.
Service medals, Bars and Mention-in-Despatches
The service-specific gallantry medals, which make up the bulk of this year's list:
- Sena Medal — Army
- Nao Sena Medal — Navy
- Vayu Sena Medal — Air Force
Each may be awarded either for gallantry or for devotion to duty / distinguished service, which is why the release specifies "(Gallantry)" in every case.
What a "Bar" means. If a person who already holds a decoration performs a further act meriting the same decoration, they do not receive a second medal. Instead a Bar is attached to the ribbon of the existing decoration, and a miniature replica is added when the ribbon is worn alone. So "1 Bar to Shaurya Chakra" means one officer has now been awarded the Shaurya Chakra twice, and "5 Bars to Sena Medal (Gallantry)" means five personnel have earned that medal a second time. This is a favourite one-line question.
Mention-in-Despatches (MiD). The term comes from military practice: a commander's formal despatch to higher headquarters would name individuals whose conduct deserved notice. It remains a recognition of gallantry or distinguished service that does not meet the threshold for a decoration, and it is recorded in the individual's service record. 89 were approved this year — more than the total number of decorations, which is the normal pattern.
The wider award architecture
Worth learning as a block, because matching questions routinely mix these categories:
Distinguished service (non-gallantry), peacetime: - Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) → Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) → Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM)
Distinguished service during war: - Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal → Uttam Yudh Seva Medal → Yudh Seva Medal
Civilian gallantry (life-saving), under the Ministry of Home Affairs: - Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak → Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak → Jeevan Raksha Padak
Civilian honours: - Bharat Ratna, then Padma Vibhushan → Padma Bhushan → Padma Shri, announced on Republic Day.
When announcements are made: military gallantry awards are announced twice a year — on Republic Day (26 January) and on the eve of Independence Day (15 August).
The constitutional angle
Two connections that turn a defence topic into a polity answer, and which sit with the notes on the union executive and the President:
- The President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces under Article 53(2), which is why gallantry awards are approved and conferred by the President.
- Article 18 abolishes titles — but its own text carves out military and academic distinctions. Gallantry decorations are therefore entirely constitutional, and this is precisely the exception a paper-setter likes to test. (The Padma awards have been upheld on the footing that they are decorations, not titles, and are not to be used as prefixes or suffixes to a name.)
Why the composition of the list tells a story
The formations named — Para (Special Forces), Rashtriya Rifles, Assam Rifles — map directly onto where the Indian Army has been operationally committed:
- Rashtriya Rifles is the Army's dedicated counter-insurgency force in Jammu & Kashmir.
- Assam Rifles, India's oldest paramilitary force, is deployed in the North-East and guards the Myanmar border, under MHA administration but Army operational control.
- Para (Special Forces) battalions undertake special operations, and their prominence in the Kirti Chakra list reflects the nature of those tasks.
- The presence of MHA personnel — head constables, constables, inspectors, deputy superintendents — is a reminder that internal security is fought by the police and central armed police forces as much as by the Army, a point post-independence India makes in outline.
The revision hook: On 14 August 2026, on the eve of the 80th Independence Day, President Droupadi Murmu approved 78 gallantry awards including 13 posthumous and 89 Mention-in-Despatches — 9 Kirti Chakras (7 posthumous), 1 Bar to Shaurya Chakra, 19 Shaurya Chakras (1 posthumous), 5 Bars to Sena Medal (Gallantry), 36 Sena Medals (Gallantry) (5 posthumous), 3 Nao Sena Medals and 5 Vayu Sena Medals; 1,057 police, fire, home guard, civil defence and correctional services personnel also received gallantry and service medals; the wartime gallantry series is Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra, the peacetime series is Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra, all instituted on 26 January 1950 with effect from 15 August 1947, and the combined order of precedence interleaves them as PVC, Ashoka Chakra, MVC, Kirti Chakra, VrC, Shaurya Chakra; the PVC was designed by Savitri Khanolkar and first awarded posthumously to Major Somnath Sharma of 4 Kumaon for Badgam; a Bar denotes a second award of the same decoration; distinguished-service medals are PVSM, AVSM and VSM in peace and Sarvottam, Uttam and Yudh Seva Medals in war; the President is Supreme Commander under Article 53(2) and Article 18 exempts military distinctions from the abolition of titles.
Why it matters
- These are the citations behind the statistics. Defence budgets and equipment contracts are abstractions; a Kirti Chakra awarded posthumously to a Havildar of 2 Para (Special Forces) is not. An officer cadet should know what the decorations mean before being in a position to recommend one.
- The posthumous proportion is the point. Seven of nine Kirti Chakras this year were awarded posthumously. That ratio is the most eloquent single fact in the release, and it is the right note on which to close a lecturette on the subject.
- Internal security is where peacetime gallantry is earned. India has not fought a declared war in decades, but the peacetime series is awarded every year — which tells you where the risk actually lies.
- A caution worth having. Gallantry awards are approved on the recommendation of the services through a defined selection process; they are recognition of individual acts, not a scoreboard between services or formations. Treating the numbers as a comparison would misread them.
Exam relevance in one paragraph
For NDA General Ability and the SSB, retain: on 14 August 2026, on the eve of the eightieth Independence Day, the President of India approved seventy-eight gallantry awards including thirteen posthumous to personnel of the Defence Forces and Central Armed Police Forces, together with eighty-nine Mention-in-Despatches, the awards comprising nine Kirti Chakras of which seven were posthumous, one Bar to the Shaurya Chakra, nineteen Shaurya Chakras including one posthumous, five Bars to the Sena Medal for gallantry, thirty-six Sena Medals for gallantry including five posthumous, three Nao Sena Medals and five Vayu Sena Medals, while one thousand and fifty-seven personnel of the police, fire, home guard, civil defence and correctional services received gallantry and service medals; India maintains two parallel series of gallantry decorations, the wartime series of Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra awarded in the presence of the enemy and the peacetime series of Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra awarded away from the field of battle, all six instituted on 26 January 1950 with effect from 15 August 1947 and the peacetime series renamed from Ashoka Chakra Class One, Two and Three in 1967, with the combined order of precedence running Param Vir Chakra, Ashoka Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra and Shaurya Chakra; the Param Vir Chakra was designed by Savitri Khanolkar and first conferred posthumously on Major Somnath Sharma of the 4th Battalion the Kumaon Regiment for the Battle of Badgam in 1947, the Ashoka Chakra being its peacetime equivalent; the Sena, Nao Sena and Vayu Sena Medals are service-specific awards for gallantry or devotion to duty, a Bar signifies a second award of the same decoration, and Mention-in-Despatches recognises gallantry or distinguished service below the threshold of a decoration; distinguished service is recognised by the Param Vishisht Seva, Ati Vishisht Seva and Vishisht Seva Medals in peacetime and by the Sarvottam, Uttam and Yudh Seva Medals during war, while civilian life-saving awards are the Sarvottam, Uttam and Jeevan Raksha Padaks; and constitutionally the President is Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces under Article 53(2) while Article 18, which abolishes titles, expressly excepts military and academic distinctions.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The number of gallantry awards approved on the eve of Independence Day 2026 was: (a) 78 (b) 89 (c) 13 (d) 1,057 → (a) — 89 was the number of Mention-in-Despatches.
Q2. How many of the 2026 gallantry awards were posthumous? (a) 13 (b) 7 (c) 19 (d) 36 → (a).
Q3. How many Kirti Chakras were approved, and how many were posthumous? (a) 9, of which 7 posthumous (b) 19, of which 1 posthumous (c) 36, of which 5 posthumous (d) 5, none posthumous → (a).
Q4. India's highest wartime gallantry award is the: (a) Param Vir Chakra (b) Ashoka Chakra (c) Maha Vir Chakra (d) Bharat Ratna → (a).
Q5. India's highest peacetime gallantry award is the: (a) Ashoka Chakra (b) Kirti Chakra (c) Shaurya Chakra (d) Param Vir Chakra → (a).
Q6. In the combined order of precedence, which ranks immediately after the Param Vir Chakra? (a) Ashoka Chakra (b) Maha Vir Chakra (c) Vir Chakra (d) Kirti Chakra → (a) — the two series interleave.
Q7. Which of these ranks above the Vir Chakra? (a) Kirti Chakra (b) Shaurya Chakra (c) Sena Medal (d) Mention-in-Despatches → (a).
Q8. A "Bar" to a decoration signifies: (a) a second award of the same decoration (b) a posthumous award (c) a downgrade (d) a foreign award → (a).
Q9. The gallantry awards of the Chakra series were instituted on: (a) 26 January 1950 (b) 15 August 1947 (c) 26 November 1949 (d) 2 October 1950 → (a) — with effect from 15 August 1947.
Q10. The Param Vir Chakra was designed by: (a) Savitri Khanolkar (b) Pingali Venkayya (c) Nandalal Bose (d) Deenanath Bhargava → (a).
Q11. The first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra was: (a) Major Somnath Sharma (b) Captain Vikram Batra (c) Subedar Joginder Singh (d) Lt Arun Khetarpal → (a) — posthumously, for the Battle of Badgam.
Q12. The Navy's service gallantry medal is the: (a) Nao Sena Medal (b) Vayu Sena Medal (c) Sena Medal (d) Yudh Seva Medal → (a).
Q13. Which is the highest peacetime distinguished service medal? (a) Param Vishisht Seva Medal (b) Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (c) Vishisht Seva Medal (d) Yudh Seva Medal → (a).
Q14. The Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces is the: (a) President (b) Prime Minister (c) Defence Minister (d) Chief of Defence Staff → (a) — Article 53(2).
Q15. Article 18 abolishes titles but expressly permits: (a) military and academic distinctions (b) hereditary titles (c) foreign titles (d) princely titles → (a).
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Gallantry awards are near-guaranteed NDA material, and there are four familiar framings. The order-of-precedence item — the interleaved sequence PVC, Ashoka Chakra, MVC, Kirti Chakra, VrC, Shaurya Chakra; almost every wrong option simply runs the two series back to back, so this one fact is the highest-value thing on this page. The wartime-versus-peacetime item — which award is given "in the face of the enemy" and which "away from the field of battle". The first-recipient and designer item — Major Somnath Sharma and Savitri Khanolkar, both perennials. The service-medal item — Sena, Nao Sena and Vayu Sena, and the meaning of a Bar and of Mention-in-Despatches. The fresh 2026 hook is the 78 awards, 13 posthumous, 89 MiD breakdown. We reference the pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for NDA? Gallantry awards come up in the written paper, in the SSB interview and in group discussion — and a candidate who knows the citations, not just the list, speaks about them very differently. Follow our daily NDA current affairs and train with our officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Veteran, Indian Army; defence-studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Defence, 14 August 2026. Facts cross-verified with independent sources.