Vijay Kumar Ahluwalia

Updated on Nov 28, 2023

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Allegiance India Service/branch Indian Army Name Vijay Ahluwalia		Unit Arty Rank Lieutenant General

Commands held GOC-in-C Central Command Awards PVSM,AVSM**,VSM,YSM,ADC

Lt General ( Dr) Vijay Kumar Ahluwalia PVSM, AVSM**, YSM, Vishisht Sewa Medal (VSM), retired from the Indian Army as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command. A pioneer on Bofors guns, he has held important positions during his Military career. Post retirement as GOC-in-C, he had a stint as member, Armed Forces Tribunal.

Early life and education

Lieutenant General ( Dr) Vijay Kumar Ahluwalia, Param Vishisht Seva Madal, Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, was serving in the Indian Army and retired as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command. He is an alumnus of Sainik School , Amaravathinagar ( Tamil Nadu), National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery from Indian Military Academy on 14 Nov 1971. A keen aviator, he has a great amount of experience of flying helicopters. As a young captain, he flew light helicopters extensively, in difficult high altitude terrain in Jammu & Kashmir. The General is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Higher Command Course, Mhow and National Defence College at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Military career

Ahluwalia has had a career with a balanced command, staff and instructional experience in his service. A pioneer on Bofors guns, having been trained in Sweden, and raising the first battery of the Army. He has held various staff appointments at various Headquarters up to Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Army).

His command assignments include command of a Medium Artillery Regiment in Counter Insurgency Operational Area in Jammu & Kashmir, an Infantry Brigade in the Kashmir Valley during Operation RAKSHAK and Operation PARAKRAM, an Infantry Division at Kargil and the Leh - Ladakh based Corps in the Northern Theatre. After an eventful tenure as the Director General Military Training (DGMT), during which Military World Games 2007 were held in India, He commanded the Corps in Leh - Ladakh region in 2008 - 09.

While he was commanding the Division in Kargil, he was awarded the National Green Governance BNHS award for conceiving and executing a project on conservation of Flora and sustainable development, named Operation Green Kargil, by the then Prime Minister of India, at Delhi on 10th November 2005.

He has held important staff appointments in Manipur-Nagaland-Assam and J&K from 1995 to 1998. As the Army Commander Central Command (2010-12), he was involved in analyzing the problem of Naxalism, and strategic challenges for conflict resolution. Besides a number of strategic essays and articles on Naxalism, he authored a book, "Red Revolution 2020 and beyond, Strategic Challenges to Resolve Naxalism" in August 2013. Having served on the Indo - China borders, he keenly follows the developments on the border dispute and its resolution. A keen environmentalist, he is a member of the Governing Council of BNHS, Mumbai, and a Member of the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. He pursued his doctorate in "Internal Security and Conflict Resolution." He was awarded the Doctorate on 10 November 2016.

Currently, he is a Member of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT),Jaipur Bench. He is Vice President of Bombay Natural History Society ( BNHS).

Personal life

Ahluwalia is married to Mrs Shobha Ahluwalia and has two children. His hobbies are trekking, yoga, reading non fiction, golf.

Awards

For his distinguished service in various operational environments, he was awarded Param Vishisht Sewa Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal. Vishisht Seva Medal. He has also won the Bombay Natural History Society National award of “Green Kargil” while commanding an Infantry Division in Leh-Ladakh region for initiating ‘Operation Green Kargil’, which was awarded by the Prime Minister of India on 10 November 2005.