37 Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal

Major General Gagan Deep Bakshi or G. D. Bakshi is a retired Indian army officer. He is from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles. He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for commanding a battalion in the Kargil War. Later, he was awarded the Sena Medal for distinguished service in commanding a battalion during counter-insurgency drives.

Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC was the 25th General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command of the Indian Army and assumed office on 1 August 2015 after Lieutenant General Man Mohan Singh Rai. He retired on 31 July 2017 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna. Prior, he was chief of staff of the Northern Command based at Udhampur. He succeeded Lt Gen Man Mohan Singh Rai who is appointed as the Vice Chief of Army Staff at the Headquarter of Indian Army in New Delhi.

Lieutenant General Amarjeet Singh Bedi PVSM UYSM, YSM, VSM is the current Commander, IV Corps of the Indian Army and assumed office on 25 November 2016. He assumed the post from Lt General Devraj Anbu.

Lieutenant General Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, SC, VSM is a former General Officer of the Indian Army. He last served as the Vice Chief of Army Staff, having assumed office on 1 October 2009 following the retirement of Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj. He also served as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command. He is one of the most decorated officers of the Indian Army, with a war-time gallantry award and a peace-time gallantry award to his name.

Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin PVSM, AVSM, VSM, is a retired Indian Navy officer.

Air Marshal Arvindra Singh Butola, VM, VSM was an officer in the Indian Air Force. He was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, and assumed office on 14 October 2019 succeeding Air Marshal Surendra Kumar Ghotia. Air Marshal AS Butola superannuated on 30 September 2020.

Lieutenant General Chandi Prasad Mohanty AVSM, SM, VSM is a General Officer in the Indian Army. He is the current General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command, assuming command on 30 January 2020. He was trained at RIMC Dehradun.

Air Marshal Amit Dev, AVSM, VSM is an officer in the Indian Air Force. He is currently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Eastern Air Command. He assumed the office on 1 October 2020 succeeding Air Marshal Rajiv Dayal Mathur. He served as Air Officer in Charge of Personnel from 1 November 2019 to 30 September 2020.

Lieutenant General Satish Dua, PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM is a retired General Officer of Indian Army. He served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) of the Indian Armed Forces. He assumed the office on 31 October 2016 from Air Marshal P P Reddy and was succeeded by Lieutenant General P S Rajeshwar on 1 November 2018.

Air Marshal Surendra Kumar Ghotia, PVSM, VSM is an officer in the Indian Air Force. He is currently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), South Western Air Command. He assumed the office on 1 October 2019 following Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora's elevation to Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

Lieutenant General Pattiarimal Mohamadali Hariz, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC is the former General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command of the Indian Army and served in office from 1 September 2016 to 30 November 2017. He assumed the post from General Bipin Rawat and was succeeded by Dewan Rabindranath Soni.

Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM & Bar, ADC is the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian army's Northern Command. The General Officer was the Northern Army Commander during the 'surgical strike' in September 2016. He is most prominently known for his views on Kashmir with a strong emphasis on human rights. With a career spanning forty years, he has served on both the Northern and Eastern borders of India.

Lieutenant General Jaiveer Singh Negi PVSM, AVSM, YSM, VSM** was the 49th Commandant of the Indian Military Academy. He took over from Lieutenant General Sanjay Kumar Jha, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, on 1 February 2020. Prior to his appointment as Commandant of the Indian Military Academy, he was the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Forces Command

Lieutenant General Alok Singh Kler, PVSM, VSM is a serving General Officer in the Indian Army. He currently serves as the General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Command. He assumed office on 1 September 2019, taking over from Lt Gen Cherish Mathson.

Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, KC, SC, VSM (Retd) is one of the highly decorated officers of the Indian Army. He is also a mountaineer and philanthropist, and was the principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarakhand.

Rear Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, VSM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF). Before taking this appointment up, he served as the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at Kochi. He previously served as the second Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC is a retired officer of Indian Army. He served as General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Central Command from 1 October 2018 following the retirement of Lieutenant General Balwant Singh Negi, to 30 September 2019. He was succeeded by Lieutenant General Iqroop Singh Ghuman. Prior to that, he commanded the Eastern Command and South Western Command of the Indian Army

Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar is the current Vice Chief of Defence Staff. In his prior appointments, he served as the Chief of Personnel of the Indian Navy, the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, and as the Chief of the Staff of the Western Naval Command. He was the Commandant of the Indian Naval War College in Goa and served as a naval advisor to the government of Seychelles. He is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and holds an M.Phil. in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Mumbai.

Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC is a retired officer of Indian Navy who served as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Western Naval Command from 1 June 2016 to 30 January 2019. He took over the position from Admiral Sunil Lanba who was promoted to Chief of Naval Staff, and was succeeded by Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar.

Lieutenant General Manoj Chandrashekhar Pande, AVSM, VSM is a serving General Officer in the Indian Army. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN). He assumed office on 1 June 2020, succeeding Lt Gen Podali Shankar Rajeshwar.

Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson, PVSM, SM, VSM is a retired officer of the Indian Army who served as General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), South Western Command. He assumed office on 1 August 2017 taking over from Lt General Abhay Krishna, and was succeeded by Lt General Alok Singh Kler on 1 September 2019.

Air Marshal Rajiv Dayal Mathur, PVSM, AVSM, VSM,ADC is an officer in the Indian Air Force. He is currently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command. He assumed the office on 1 October 2020 succeeding Air Marshal Arvindra Singh Butola.He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Eastern Air Command from 1 March 2019 to 30 September 2020.

Rear Admiral Ravindra Jayant Nadkarni, AVSM, VSM is an officer in the Indian Navy. Since 10 January 2020, he serves as the Flag Officer of the Offshore Defence Advisory Group.

Lieutenant General Rajendra Ramrao Nimbhorkar, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM**, VSM is a former officer of the Indian Army who served as the Master General Ordnance (MGO). He assumed office on 9 August 2017 after Lieutenant General Ravi Thodge retired. He was part of one of the strike corp which was responsible for carrying out three strikes inside POK in Surgical Strikes held in 2016 by the Indian Army to clean out all the Pakistani Terrorists Camps. As surgical strikes were carried out very secretly to maintain surprise, so very few people knew of them, one of those involved was Lt. Gen. Nimbhorkar. Terrorists numbering 55 were killed in this operation.

Vice Admiral G. S. Pabby is the current Chief of Material of the Indian Navy.

Lieutenant General Man Mohan Singh Rai, PVSM, AVSM, VSM was the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) of the Indian Army and assumed office on 1 August 2015 following the retirement of Lieutenant General Philip Campose. He retired on 31 July 2016 and was succeeded by General Bipin Rawat.

Lieutenant General Podali Shankar Rajeshwar PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC was a former General officer in the Indian Army. He last served as the 14th Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command, from December 2019 to May 2020. He took office on 1 December 2019 when Vice Admiral Bimal Verma retired. He superannuated on 31 May 2020, handing over command to Lieutenant General Manoj Pande. Earlier, he had served as the 12th Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, from November 2018 to November 2019.

General Bipin Rawat, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC is a four star general and the current Chief of Defence Staff of India. On 30 December 2019, he was appointed as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of India and assumed office from 1 January 2020. Prior to CDS, he served as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee as well as 27th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army.

Lieutenant General Satinder Kumar Saini, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, VSM, ADC is the current Vice Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army and assumed the office on 25 January 2020. He previously served as General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command.

Lieutenant General Raj Shukla, YSM, SM is a serving General Officer in the Indian Army. He is the current General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Army Training Command (ARTRAC). He assumed office on 1 May 2020, succeeding Lt Gen P C Thimayya.

Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh, AVSM, VSM is the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and assumed office on 31 May 2019. He was the Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command prior to this appointment.

General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC is a retired Indian army officer who served as the 25th Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army. Previously the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the army's Eastern Command, he succeeded General V. K. Singh as COAS on May 31, 2012. He retired on 31 July 2014. He is the second Sikh to be COAS, the first having been General J. J. Singh. He was also the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) of the Indian armed forces.

General Dalbir Singh Suhag, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC is the current Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles and a former Indian Army General. He was the 26th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of the Indian Army, serving from 31 July 2014 to 31 December 2016, and Vice Chief of the Army Staff prior to that.

Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, AVSM, VSM, YSM, SM is a serving General Officer in the Indian Army. He is currently serving as commandant of Indian Military Academy, assumed office in October 2020 succeeding Lt Gen Jaiveer Singh Negi. Previously, he was the Commander of XIV Corps from October 2019 to October 2020, succeeding Lt Gen Yogesh Kumar Joshi.

Lieutenant General Dewan Rabindranath Soni, PVSM, VSM is a former General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Southern Command of the Indian Army. He served in office from 1 December 2017 till 30 September 2018. He assumed the post after Lieutenant General P M Hariz retired and was succeeded by Lt General Satinder Kumar Saini.

Rear Admiral Suraj Berry, AVSM, NM, VSM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Chief of Staff of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. Before taking this appointment up, he commanded the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy. He previously served as the Commissioning Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) is a decoration of the Indian armed forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed forces.