Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Rajinder Singh, MVC & bar (3 October 1911 – May 1994) was an

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

officer and a two time member of the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...

, the lower house of the Indian parliament. He was nicknamed 'Sparrow'.

Career

Singh served in the ranks of the British Indian Army from 3 October 1932 to 31 January 1938. He attended the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set u ...

Dehra Dun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

, and was commissioned onto the Unattached List, Indian Army on 1 February 1938. He spent the next year attached to The King's Regiment (Liverpool), a British Army regiment, stationed on the North West Frontier. He was then admitted to the Indian Army and joined the

7th Light Cavalry The 7th Light Cavalry previously the 28th Light Cavalry, was a regular army cavalry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1784 under the East India Company. The regiment later saw service on the North West Frontier and in World W ...

on 24 February 1939. He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 April 1939, and served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was promoted temporary captain and acting major on 16 April 1942, to war-substantive captain and temporary major on 9 January 1943 and to substantive captain on 31 January 1945. Singh opted to join the

upon the partition of India in 1947, and commanded the 7th Light Cavalry from September 1947 to May 1949. He was twice awarded the

Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the ...

, the second highest military decoration in India, the first for his role during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, for outstanding leadership during the advance and capture of Jhangar (

Operation Bison Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

), and the second for displaying gallantry in the

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

, during which he was GOC of the 1st Armoured Division. Promoted to colonel on 30 January 1957, Singh held the appointment of regimental colonel of the 7th Light Cavalry from July 1959 to July 1969. He was appointed D. A.C., Army HQ. On 3 July 1961, he was appointed a G.O.C. commanding a division, with the acting rank of major-general. Singh retired from the Army on 26 September 1966. After retirement he entered politics and became a minister in the short lived Gurnam Singh ministry in 1967. Later he was elected to the Lok Sabha in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

for the

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

constituency as a candidate of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

. He died in May 1994, at the age of 83.

Dates of rank

Notes

Vicky

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Rajinder Singh 1911 births 1994 deaths Indian generals Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra People from Jalandhar district Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 Military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 State cabinet ministers of Punjab, India Indian Army personnel of World War II British Indian Army officers Indian National Congress politicians