Param Vir Chakra: The Award, the Medal and Its Awardees

The correct answer is B, Major Somnath Sharma. On 3 November 1947 Major Sharma of the 4th battalion of the Kumaon Regiment held the village of Badgam near Srinagar with one company against a far larger raiding force, and by refusing to pull back he kept the Srinagar airfield from falling, on which the whole airlift of Indian troops into Kashmir depended. He was killed in the action and the award was posthumous. Option A, Second Lieutenant Rama Raghoba Rane of the Bombay Sappers, is the strongest distractor, because he was the first recipient to be decorated while living, having cleared mines and roadblocks under fire so that armour could advance. Option C, Lance Naik Karam Singh of 1 Sikh, also received the award for the Jammu and Kashmir operations of 1948, at Tithwal, and survived. Option D, Naik Jadunath Singh of 1 Rajput, received it posthumously for the defence of Taindhar in 1948. All four belong to the same operations, which is why they are grouped here.

The correct answer is B, 15 August 1947. The decoration was instituted on 26 January 1950, the day the Constitution came into force, but it was given effect from 15 August 1947 so that acts of gallantry performed from the day of independence onwards could be recognised. That is why the very first award, to Major Somnath Sharma for the action at Badgam on 3 November 1947, is for a deed that preceded the creation of the medal. Option A, 26 November 1949, is the date on which the Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly, now marked as Constitution Day, and has nothing to do with this award. Option C, 26 January 1947, mixes the day and month of Republic Day with the wrong year; Republic Day itself falls in 1950. Option D, 1 January 1950, is an invented date offered because it looks administratively plausible. The pair to remember is institution in 1950 and effect from 1947.

The correct answer is A, Savitri Khanolkar. Born in Switzerland, she married an officer of the Indian Army, settled in India and studied its languages, art and traditions closely, and when the new republic needed its own decorations she was asked to design them. Besides the Param Vir Chakra she designed the Ashoka Chakra, the Maha Vir Chakra and the Vir Chakra, drawing on Indian imagery such as the Vajra of Indra and the wheel of Ashoka. Option B, Nandalal Bose, was the artist who supervised the decoration and illumination of the original manuscript of the Constitution of India, which makes him a plausible but wrong answer. Option C, Pingali Venkayya, designed the flag from which the national flag was developed. Option D, Deenanath Bhargava, drew the national emblem of the lion capital for the Constitution manuscript under Nandalal Bose. Only Khanolkar designed the gallantry medals.

The correct answer is B, Ashoka Chakra. India maintains two parallel chains of gallantry awards. For bravery in the presence of the enemy, that is in war, the order runs Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra. For gallantry otherwise than in the face of the enemy, that is in peacetime, the order runs Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra, and the Ashoka Chakra may also be conferred on civilians. The Ashoka Chakra therefore stands at the head of the peacetime chain exactly as the Param Vir Chakra stands at the head of the wartime one. Option A, the Maha Vir Chakra, is second in the wartime chain and is the commonest wrong answer here. Option C, the Kirti Chakra, is second in the peacetime chain and so corresponds to the Maha Vir Chakra. Option D, the Shaurya Chakra, is third in the peacetime chain and corresponds to the Vir Chakra.

The correct answer is A, Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon. During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 he took off alone from Srinagar airfield while it was under attack by a formation of enemy aircraft, engaged them in the air over the airfield and was killed; the award was posthumous, and he remains the only member of the Air Force to receive it, while no member of the Navy has received it so far. Option B names Arjan Singh, who rose to be Marshal of the Indian Air Force and led the service in 1965, but his recognition came in other forms. Option C, Rakesh Sharma, was the first Indian in space, for which he received the Ashoka Chakra, a peacetime decoration, which makes him a well-placed distractor. Option D names a pilot of a much later episode who received a different gallantry award. The exception to memorise is Sekhon for the Air Force and Salaria for the one United Nations mission.

The correct answer is B, a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo. Salaria, of the 3rd battalion of the 1st Gorkha Rifles, was serving with the United Nations force in the Congo in 1961 when he led a small party against a much larger armed group blocking a vital road near Elisabethville; he was killed in the action, and his is the only Param Vir Chakra awarded for a deed performed in a United Nations mission rather than in a war fought by India. Option A, the Sino-Indian war of 1962, produced three awards, to Dhan Singh Thapa, Joginder Singh and Shaitan Singh, and the nearness of the year makes it the strongest distractor. Option C, Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka in 1987, produced the award to Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran of 8 Mahar. Option D, the liberation of Goa in 1961, falls in the same year as the Congo action but produced no Param Vir Chakra.

The correct answer is B, Asal Uttar. In the Khem Karan sector in September 1965, Abdul Hamid of 4 Grenadiers used a recoilless gun mounted on a jeep to destroy Pakistani Patton tanks at close range in the fields of Asal Uttar, and he was killed while engaging another; the battle ruined so much armour that the area came to be called the graveyard of Pattons. Option A, Chawinda, is the sector of the same war in which Lieutenant Colonel Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore of the Poona Horse earned the other Param Vir Chakra of 1965, so the year is right and the recipient is wrong. Option C, Basantar, belongs to the war of 1971 and produced two awards, to Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal and Major Hoshiar Singh. Option D, Rezang La, belongs to the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and to Major Shaitan Singh of 13 Kumaon. Keep the pairs by war: Asal Uttar and Chawinda in 1965, Basantar in 1971.

The correct answer is A, Rezang La. In November 1962 Major Shaitan Singh commanded a company of 13 Kumaon at Rezang La in the Chushul sector of Ladakh, which fought on against overwhelming numbers until almost the whole company had fallen; he moved from post to post under fire to steady his men and was killed, and the award was posthumous. Option B, Tithwal, belongs to the Jammu and Kashmir operations of 1948 and to Company Havildar Major Piru Singh and Lance Naik Karam Singh. Option C, Gangasagar, belongs to the war of 1971, where Lance Naik Albert Ekka of 14 Guards earned the award on the eastern front. Option D, Quaid Post, is the Siachen Glacier position captured in 1987 by Naib Subedar Bana Singh, after whom it was renamed Bana Post. The 1962 war produced three awards in all, to Dhan Singh Thapa, Joginder Singh and Shaitan Singh.

The correct answer is B, Siachen Glacier. In June 1987 Naib Subedar Bana Singh of the 8th battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry led a small party up a sheer ice wall to take the highest post on the Siachen Glacier, held by the enemy and known as Quaid Post, and the position was renamed Bana Post in his honour; he survived and received the award in person. Option A, the Gangotri Glacier, is the source of the Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand and has no military history of this kind. Option C, the Zemu Glacier, lies on the eastern face of Kangchenjunga in Sikkim and is a glaciological rather than military landmark. Option D, the Pindari Glacier, in Kumaon, is best known as a trekking destination. The Siachen Glacier is the detail that matters here, since it is described as the highest battlefield in the world.

The correct answer is B, Captain Vikram Batra. Batra, of 13 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, led the recapture of heights in the Dras sector during the Kargil operations of 1999 and was killed while rescuing an injured soldier; the award was posthumous. The other three Kargil awards went to Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey, also posthumously, and to Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav and Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, both of whom survived. Option A, Major Hoshiar Singh of 3 Grenadiers, earned the award in the Battle of Basantar in the war of 1971 and lived to receive it. Option C, Lance Naik Albert Ekka of 14 Guards, received it posthumously for the action at Gangasagar on the eastern front in 1971. Option D, Major Dhan Singh Thapa, earned it in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 at Sirijap in Ladakh and survived captivity. Only Batra belongs to Kargil.

The correct answer is A, Battle of Basantar. Fighting with 17 Poona Horse in the Shakargarh sector in December 1971, Khetarpal refused to abandon his burning tank and continued to engage advancing armour until he was killed, holding the bridgehead across the Basantar river; the award was posthumous, and Major Hoshiar Singh of 3 Grenadiers received the Param Vir Chakra in the same battle. Option B, Asal Uttar, belongs to the war of 1965 and to Abdul Hamid of 4 Grenadiers. Option C, Longewala, was indeed fought in 1971 and is famous for the defence of a desert post against armour, but it produced a Maha Vir Chakra rather than a Param Vir Chakra. Option D, Chawinda, belongs to 1965 and to Lieutenant Colonel Tarapore of the Poona Horse, who commanded the same regiment Khetarpal later served in, which is what makes this option tempting.

The correct answer is A, the Vajra, the weapon of Indra. Savitri Khanolkar, who designed the decoration, placed the state emblem of India at the centre of the circular bronze medal and set four replicas of the Vajra, the thunderbolt of Indra, around it, so that the medal carries a sense of irresistible force; the reverse bears the words Param Vir Chakra in Hindi and English separated by lotus flowers, and the ribbon is plain purple. Option B, the Sudarshana Chakra, is the discus of Vishnu and does not appear on this medal. Option C, the trident of Shiva, is likewise absent from the design. Option D, the lion capital of Ashoka, is the state emblem itself, which is at the centre rather than in the four replicas, so the option names the right object in the wrong position, which is the trap. Note also that the purple ribbon is itself a frequently set detail.