Gallantry & National Honours 2026

For the 77th Republic Day, President Droupadi Murmu cleared 70 gallantry awards to the armed forces, six of them posthumous. The standout is the Ashok Chakra - the peacetime counterpart of the Param Vir Chakra - for Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to reach the International Space Station. The same Republic Day cycle also brought three Kirti Chakras and a fresh round of life-saving Jeevan Raksha Padak honours.