Vijay Kumar Singh

General Vijay Kumar Singh PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC is the 26th General of the Indian Army and currently the Chief of Army Staff.
Vijay Kumar Singh comes from Bapora village in Bhiwani district of Haryana state. Singh is a third-generation officer. His father was a Colonel in the Indian Army and grandfather a senior Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). Singh was educted at Birla Public School, Pilani, Rajasthan.


Singh was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of The Rajput Regiment (Kali Chindi) on 14 June 1970. He went on to command the same unit when it was positioned along the Line of Control with Pakistan.
He graduated from the Defence Services Staff College as a honours graduate of the United States Army Infantry School, a graduate of the Rangers Course at Fort Benning and the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In the US for the Rangers course, he came first in combat operations.
Singh is experienced in counter insurgency operations and high altitude operations. He has also seen action in the 1971 Bangladesh war. During his career he has served in various positions:
Military Operations Directorate at the Army Headquarters.
Brigadier General Staff of a Corps during 'Operation Parakram' when Indian troops were mobilised on the border in the wake of the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
Commanded[1] Ambala-based 2 Corps and Jalandhar based 11 Corps in Punjab state.
Instructor in the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) headquarters in Bhutan.
Singh was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for distinguished service while commanding a counter-insurgency force.[citation needed]
He became Chief of Army Staff on 31 March 2010 and is due for retirement on 31 May 2012.


While Singh wrote his date of birth as 10 May 1950 in the application form for the National Defence Academy, his diploma from the academy show his date of birth as 10 May 1951. Singh's later claim that he was born in 1951 was denied in 2011. On 16 January 2012, Singh filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of India.


On 11 March 2011, Singh was inducted into the United States Army War College (Class of 2001 graduate) International Fellows Hall of Fame. He is the 33rd International Fellow and the first Indian Armed Forces officer to be inducted.
Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Yudh Seva Medal for his distinguished service during Operation Pawan
Ranger Tab