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| Param Vir Chakra |
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| Awarded
to officers and enlisted personnel of all military
branches for the highest degree of valor or self-sacrifice
in the presence of the enemy. It may be awarded
posthumously and, indeed, most of the awards have
been posthumous. In many ways, the Param Vir Chakra
can be seen as a post-Independence equivalent
of the Victoria Cross. |
| Provision
was made for the award of a bar for second (or
subsequent) awards of the Param Vir Chakra. To
date, there have been no such awards. Award of
the decoration carries with it the right to use
P.V.C. as a postnominal abbreviation. |
| The
award also carries a cash allowance for those
under the rank of second lieutenant (or the appropriate
service equivalent) and, in some cases, a lump-sum
cash award. On the death of the recipient, the
pension was transferred to the widow until her
death or remarriage. This pension has been a rather
controversial issue throughout the life of the
decoration. By March 1999, the stipend stood at
Rs. 1500 per month. In addition, many states have
established individual pension rewards for the
recipients of the decoration. |
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| Established:
26
January 1950, by the President of India, with awards effective
from 15 August 1947; the statues were amended on 26 January
1980, when it was moved to second place in the order of
wearing, behind the Bharat Ratna. Mrs. Savitri Khanolankar
(born as Eva Yuonne Linda Maday-de-Maros) designed the
medal; by coincidence, the first recipient was her son-in-law,
Major Som Nath Sharma. |
| Obverse:
1-3/8
inch, circular bronze medal. In the center, on a raised
circle, the state emblem. Surrounding this, four replicas
of Indra's Vajra (the all-powerful mythic weapon on the
ancient Vedic god of war). The decoration is suspended
from a straight swiveling suspension bar. It is named
on the edge. |
| Reverse:
Around
a plain center, two legends separated by lotus flowers:
above "Param Vir Chakra" in Hindi and, below, "PARAM VIR
CHAKRA" in English. |
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| Ribbon:
32
mm, medium purple. When the ribbon bar is worn alone,
a bronze replica of Indra’s Vajra is worn on the ribbon.
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