Early career Rawat was commissioned into the 5th battalion, the
11 Gorkha Rifles (5/11 GR) on 16 December 1978, the same unit as his father. During the
1987 Sino-Indian skirmish in the
Sumdorong Chu valley, then Captain Rawat's battalion was deployed against the Chinese
People's Liberation Army. The standoff was the first military confrontation along the disputed
McMahon Line after the
1962 war. Early in his career, Rawat had an instructional tenure at the
Indian Military Academy,
Dehradun. He had much experience in high-altitude warfare and spent ten years conducting
counter-insurgency operations. He also served as Colonel Military Secretary (Col MS) and Deputy Military Secretary in the Military Secretary's Branch and as a Senior Instructor in the Junior Command Wing. Promoted to the rank of
Brigadier, he commanded 5 Sector
Rashtriya Rifles in
Sopore. He was awarded the
Yudh Seva Medal for his command of 5 Sector RR.
UN mission in Congo Rawat commanded
MONUSCO (a Multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo). Within two weeks of deployment in the DRC, the Brigade faced a major offensive in the east which threatened the regional capital of
North Kivu,
Goma. The offensive also threatened to destabilise the country as a whole. The situation demanded a rapid response and North Kivu Brigade was reinforced, where it was responsible for over 7,000 men and women, representing nearly half of the total MONUSCO force. Whilst simultaneously engaged in offensive kinetic operations against the CNDP and other armed groups, Rawat (then
Brigadier) carried out tactical support to the Congolese Army (
FARDC), He sensitised programmes with the local population and detailed coordination to ensure that all were informed about the situation and worked together in the progress of operations. He was responsible for the protection of the vulnerable population. This operational period lasted for four months. Goma never fell, the East stabilized and the main armed group was motivated to the negotiating table and has since been integrated into the FARDC. He was also tasked to present the Revised Charter of Peace Enforcement to the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Force Commanders of all the UN missions in a special conference at
Wilton Park, London, on 16 May 2009. Rawat was twice awarded the Force Commander's Commendation. He subsequently served as the Major General General Staff (MGGS) of the
Eastern Command.
2015 Myanmar strikes Promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant General, he was appointed General Officer Commanding
III Corps, headquartered in
Dimapur. In June 2015, eighteen Indian soldiers were killed in an
ambush by militants belonging to the
United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFW) in
Manipur. The
Indian Army responded with
cross-border strikes in which units of the 21st battalion of the
Parachute Regiment struck an NSCN-K base in
Myanmar.
21 Para was under the operational control of the
Dimapur based
III Corps, which was then commanded by Rawat. For his command of III Corps, he was awarded the
Uttam Yudh Seva Medal on 26 January 2016.
Army Commander After relinquishing command of
III Corps, Rawat was appointed General Officer Commanding Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area, headquartered in Mumbai. After an eight-month tenure, he assumed the post of
Vice Chief of the Army Staff on 1 September 2016.
Chief of the Army Staff handing over the baton to Rawat at Army HQ On 17 December 2016, the Government of India appointed Rawat as the 27th
Chief of the Army Staff, superseding two more senior
Lieutenant Generals,
Praveen Bakshi (
Eastern Army Commander) and
P. M. Hariz (
Southern Army Commander). The appointment made by
NDA ruled Government was politically controversial. Rawat was accused of
nepotism and gratuitously politicising the appointment, by the senior serving and retired military officers. He was the third officer from the
Gorkha Brigade to become the
Chief of the Army Staff, after
Sam Manekshaw and Suhag. He rejected the implementation of Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU) for the armed forces. Speaking in May 2017, he urged defence personnel not to compare themselves with civil-service officers and clarified that the military would “implement NFU in our own way,” emphasizing that automatic pay upgrades of the kind granted to Group A civil servants could potentially diminish the distinct status of the armed services. In 2018, Rawat defended the army Major involved in the
Kashmir human shield incident, where a Kashmiri man was tied to a jeep as a
human shield. The officer was awarded a Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card by Rawat for counter-insurgency operations. Rawat had been criticized by the opposition party leaders for making political statements during the
Citizenship Amendment Act protests. He was also an honorary General of
Nepalese Army in accordance with the tradition between the Indian and Nepali armies to confer the honorary rank of General upon each other's chiefs to signify their close and special military ties. Rawat served as the 57th
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. After the standoff ended Rawat said China had begun 'flexing its muscles' and was trying to 'nibble away' territory held by India in a gradual manner to test the limits of thresholds. He stated, India had to be "wary about" China, "and remain prepared for situations that could develop into conflicts".
Bilateral visits as Chief of the Army Staff Chief of Defence Staff General
Manoj Mukund Naravane,
CNS Admiral Karambir Singh and
CAS Air Chief Marshal R. K. S. Bhadauria after the ceremonial Guard of Honour, in New Delhi on 1 January 2020 |thumb|250px He served as the first
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the
Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in December 2021. India as of 2021 had service–specific commands system.
joint and integrated commands, also known as
unified commands; and further divided into
theatre or functional commands, have been set up and more are proposed. In February 2020, Rawat said two to five
theatre commands may be set up. The completion of the creation of theatre commands, both integrated and joint commands, will take a number of years.
Indian Air Force opposed the formation of unified theatre commands citing limitation of resources.
Comments on supremacy of Army On May 6, 2017, during his visit to attend a disabled soldiers’ rally organized by the Delhi-based War Wounded Foundation at the Armed Forces Medical College, General Bipin Rawat stated that the status of Armed Forces personnel is ‘higher’ than that of civil services. He emphasized that defence personnel should not seek non-functional upgradation (NFU) similar to that granted to Group ‘A’ civil service officers, warning that such a move could result in a downgrade of their status. On a separate occasion, Rawat put emphasis on the 'supremacy and primacy' of the Indian Army over the Air force and Navy, in fighting wars. Rawat had stated, "Wars will be fought on land, and therefore the primacy of the army must be maintained over the air force and navy. The statement had antagonised the Air Force and Navy. The next day, on 16 September 2021, India's Minister of External Affairs
S. Jaishankar conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that India does not subscribe to any clash of civilisations theory. == Personal life ==