The Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa, ) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of gallantry on the battlefield, on land or in the air or at sea. It is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

Origin

It was established by the President of India on 26 January 1950 (with effect from 15 August 1947). The statutes were amended on 12 January 1952 to readjust the order of wearing as new decorations were established. It replaced the British Distinguished Service Cross (DSC),

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

(MC) and Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Award of the decoration carries with it the right to use Vr.C. as a postnominal abbreviation ote the care to distinguish this abbreviation from that for the Victoria Cross (V.C.)

Appearance

The medal is inch circular silver medal. A five pointed star, with the chakra in the centre, and, on this, the domed gilded State Emblem of India, state emblem. The decoration is named on the rim and suspended from a swiveling straight-bar suspender. The decoration is almost always named and dated on the edge. Around a plain centre, two legends are separated by lotus flowers; with Vir Chakra in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

above and in English below. The ribbon is 32 mm, half dark blue and half orange-saffron; dark blue 16 mm, saffron 16 mm. The award carries with it a cash allowance and, in some cases, a lump sum cash award. This has been a rather controversial issue throughout the life of the decoration. From 1 February 1999, the central government set a monthly stipend of Rs. 850 for recipients of the award. In addition, many states have established individual pension rewards for the recipients of the decoration.

List of Vir Chakra recipients

A total of 1327 personnel received Vir Chakra. Some of the notable Vir Chakra awardees include:

Notes

References

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