The Ashoka Chakra () is India's highest award for peacetime gallantry. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra and is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice". The decoration may be awarded either to military personnel or civilians by the Government of India.

The circular medal consists of Ashoka Chakra surrounded by a lotus wreath on the front. The obverse consists of "Ashoka Chakra" written in Devanagari along the upper edge on the medal and in English along the lower rim. It is suspended by a straight bar suspender from a green ribbon with a central saffron stripe.

, there have been 87 recipients of the award. Of these, 68 have been posthumous recipients, and 17 have been civilians. Havildar Bachittar Singh of the Indian Army was the first recipient of the award, in 1952. D. K. Jatar, a pilot of Air India's Kashmir Princess was the first civilian recipient of the award, in 1955. Only two women have ever been awarded the Ashok Chakra, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot in 1987 and police constable Kamlesh Kumari in 2001. Two non-Indians, cosmonauts Gennadi Strekalov and Yuri Malyshev were given the award in 1984. Indian Air Force officer Shubhanshu Shukla, decorated in 2026, is the most recent awardee.

Description The medal was originally established on 4 January 1952 as the "Ashoka Chakra, Class I" by the President of India deemed to have been in effect from 15 August 1947. It was the highest class of the three gallantry awards established at the time. In January 1967, the award was renamed as Ashok Chakra with the other two classes renamed as Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra respectively. The awards are given out twice a year– during the Republic Day and Independence Day. Though the Ashok Chakra is placed below the Param Vir Chakra in the order of precedence, it is considered to be the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra. The award includes a medal, and a monthly stipend of .

Eligibility The Ashok Chakra can be awarded to all enlisted officers of the Indian Armed Forces including the Indian Army, Indian Airforce, and Indian Navy, the Indian Territorial Army, reserve personnel, and any other legally constituted armed force. Nursing members of the armed forces are also eligible for the award. Police personnel including the Central Armed Police Forces, and the Railway Protection Force are also eligible for the award. The award can also be given to any civilian at the discretion of the Government of India. It is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice" during times other than war.

Design The medal is circular with a diameter of . It has prominent rims and is made of gold gilding. On the front side, it has a replica of the Ashok Chakra surrounded by a wreath of sacred lotus. In the reverse, the words "Ashok Chakra" are embossed in Devanagri on the top and English towards the bottom edge. These are separated by a lotus flowers on either side. The medal is suspended by a straight bar suspender from a green ribbon with a central saffron stripe. If a recipient receives subsequent such awards, more bars are added to the ribbon by which the medal is suspended.

Recipients

, the medal has been awarded to 87 awardees, of which 68 were to posthumous recipients. Havildar Bachittar Singh of the Indian Army was the first recipient of the award for his part in the Operation Polo in 1948. Flight lieutenant Suhas Biswas was the first member of the Indian Air Force to be commemorated with the award in 1953. Flight captain D. K. Jatar, who was the pilot of the bombed Air India flight 300, was the first civilian recipient of the award in 1955. Only two women have ever been awarded the Ashok Chakra, flight attendant Neerja Bhanot in 1987 and police constable Kamlesh Kumari Yadav in 2001 for their actions during the hijack of Pan Am Flight 73 and 2001 Indian Parliament attack respectively.

Two non-Indians, cosmonauts Gennady Strekalov and Yuri Malyshev were given the award in 1984 for their Soyuz T-11 mission which also carried Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to space. Paratrooper Sanjog Chhetri was the youngest awardee at 20 years of age, when he was killed in the counter terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair was the only recipient of both the Ashok Chakra and Kirti Chakra, the two highest peacetime honours. † Indicates posthumous honour ^ Indicates non-Indian recipient Ashok Chakra recipients Year Recipient Rank Service Branch Action 1952Bachittar Singh† Havildar Indian Army Operation Polo 1952 Narbahadur Thapa Naik Indian Army Operation Polo 1953 Suhas Biswas Flight Lieutenant Indian Air Force Stricken flight landing 1955D. K. Jatar† Flight Captain Air India Kashmir Princess bombing 1956 Sundar Singh Lance Naik Indian Army Kashmir conflict 1957Jagannath Raoji Chitnis† Lieutenant Colonel Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1957Joginder Singh† Havildar Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1957Pollur Mutthuswamy Raman† Second Lieutenant Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1958Eric James Tucker† Captain Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1962Khadka Bahadur Limbu† Subedar Major Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1962 Man Bahadur Rai Captain Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1965Chaman Lal† Firefighter Train fire 1965Lajja Ram† Civilian Dacoit attack 1965Purshottam† Civilian Dacoit attack 1965Tej Singh† Civilian Dacoit attack 1967Shankar Lal Shrivastava† Head Constable Madhya Pradesh Police Dacoit attack 1968Takhat Singh† Civilian Dacoit attack 1968 Dhanpat Singh Civilian Dacoit attack 1968 Govind Singh Civilian Dacoit attack 1968 Hukum Singh Civilian Dacoit attack 1968 Lakhan Singh Civilian Dacoit attack 1969 Jas Ram Singh Captain Indian Army Mizo insurgency 1971Baij Nath Singh† Civilian Dacoit attack 1972 Bhure Lal Constable Madhya Pradesh Police Dacoit attack 1972Ummed Singh Mahra† Captain Indian Army Nagaland insurgency 1974Gurnam Singh† Naib Subedar Indian Army Mine explosion 1974 Munni Lal Civilian Dacoit attack 1981 Cyrus Addie Pithawalla Second Lieutenant Indian Army Manipur insurgency 1984 Gennady Strekalov^ Flight Engineer Roscosmos Soyuz T-11 1984Yuri Malyshev^ Colonel Soviet Air Forces Soyuz T-11 1985Bhawani Datt Joshi† Naik Indian Army Operation Blue Star 1985Bhukant Mishra† Major Indian Army Operation Blue Star 1985 Chhering Mutup Lance Havildar Indian Army Siachen conflict 1985 Jasbir Singh Raina Captain Indian Army Operation Blue Star 1985Nirbhay Singh Sisodiya† Naik Indian Army Operation Blue Star 1985Ram Prakash Roperia† Lieutenant Indian Army Operation Blue Star 1985 Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Indian Air Force Soyuz T-11 1986Vijay Jagirdar† Civilian 1984 anti-Sikh riots 1987Neerja Bhanot†Civilian Pan Am Flight 73 hijack 1991Randhir Prasad Verma† Superintendent of Police Bihar Police Bank robbery 1992Sandeep Sankhla† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1993Rakesh Singh Malhan† Second Lieutenant Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1994Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair† Colonel Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1995Harsh Uday Singh Gaur† Lieutenant Colonel Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1995Rajiv Kumar Joon† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1995Sujjan Singh Yadav† Subedar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1996Arun Singh Jasrotia† Captain Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1997Puneet Nath Datt† Second Lieutenant Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 1997Shanti Swaroop Rana† Lieutenant Colonel Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2000Sudhir Kumar Walia† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2001Jagdish Prasad Yadav† Rajya Sabha secretariat 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2001Matbar Singh Negi† Rajya Sabha secretariat 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2001Kamlesh Kumari Yadav† Constable Central Reserve Police Force 2001 Indian Parliament attack 2002Surinder Singh† Subedar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2002 Rambeer Singh Tomar† Naik Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2003Suresh Chand Yadav† Subedar Major National Security Guard Akshardham Temple attack 2004Sanjog Chhetri† Paratrooper Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2004 Triveni Singh† Lieutenant Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2007 Chuni Lal† Naib Subedar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2007 Harshan R Nair† Captain Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2007Vasanth Venugopal† Colonel Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2008Dinesh Raghu Raman† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2009 Ashok Kamte† Additional Commissioner Maharashtra Police 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009 Bahadur Singh Bohra† Havildar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2009Gajender Singh Bisht† Havildar National Security Guard 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009Hemant Karkare† Joint Commissioner Maharashtra Police 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009Jojan Thomas† Colonel Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2009Mohan Chand Sharma† Inspector Delhi Police Batla House encounter 2009Pramod Kumar Satapathy† Assistant Commandant of Police Odisha Police Naxalite–Maoist insurgency 2009R. P. Diengdoh† Deputy Superintendent Meghalaya Police Meghalaya Insurgency 2009Sandeep Unnikrishnan† Major National Security Guard 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009 Tukaram Omble† Assistant Sub-Inspector Maharashtra Police 2008 Mumbai attacks 2009 Vijay Salaskar† Inspector Maharashtra Police 2008 Mumbai attacks 2010 D. Sreeram Kumar Major Indian Army Manipur insurgency 2010Mohit Sharma† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2010Rajesh Kumar† Havildar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2011Laishram Jyotin Singh† Major Indian Army February 2010 Kabul attack 2012Navdeep Singh† Lieutenant Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2014Mukund Varadarajan† Major Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2014Neeraj Kumar Singh† Naik Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2014K. Prasad Babu† Sub-Inspector Andhra Pradesh Police Naxalite–Maoist insurgency 2016Mohan Nath Goswami† Lance Naik Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2017Hangpan Dada† Havildar Indian Army Kashmir insurgency 2018Jyoti Prakash Nirala† Corporal Indian Air Force Kashmir insurgency 2019 Nazir Ahmad Wani† Lance Naik Territorial Army Kashmir insurgency 2021 Babu Ram† Assistant Sub-Inspector Jammu and Kashmir Police Kashmir insurgency 2026 Shubhanshu Shukla Group Captain Indian Air Force Axiom Mission 4

Summary

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See also List of highest military decorations by country

Notes

References

Further reading

External links Ashoka Chakra awardees of the Indian Air Force.