General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Tapishwar Narain Raina (24 January 1921 – 19 May 1980), best known as T.N. Raina, was a senior

army officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextu ...

and a diplomat who served as the 9th Chief of the Army Staff of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

between 1975 and 1978. Upon retirement, he was appointed as the

High Commissioner of India High commissioners represent India's diplomatic missions in member states of the Commonwealth of Nations and ambassadors represent diplomatic missions in other states. The head of a diplomatic mission to an international organization is called a pe ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was a recipient of the third highest civilian honour of India, the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

Early life and education

Raina was born in a

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region ...

family on 24 January 1921, the son of Rai Bahadur A. N. Raina, sometime Postmaster-General of Punjab. He received his early education in

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...

, where his father had been posted as Head Postmaster. While a college student in Lahore, at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

, Raina joined the 4th Punjab University Training Corps in October 1938.

Career

Second World War

On 1 May 1941, Raina was attached to the 10th Battalion of the

8th Punjab Regiment The 8th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to Pakistan Army on Partition of India in 1947 and merged with the Baluch Regiment in 1956. History Madras Infantry The 8th Punjab Regim ...

, but subsequently considered the air force and briefly served as a cadet in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

during July–August 1941. He then joined the Officers' Training School at Mhow. On 12 April 1942, Raina received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the 10th Battalion of

19th Hyderabad Regiment The 19th Hyderabad Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed at the time of reforms of the Indian Army after the First World War, when it moved from single-battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. The reg ...

, which became the

Kumaon Regiment The Kumaon Regiment is one of the oldest infantry regiments of the Indian Army. The regiment traces its origins to the 18th century and has fought in every major campaign of the British Indian Army and the Indian Army, including the two world war ...

in 1948. Raina initially joined 10/19 Hyderabad, then at Agra, but was posted to 2/19 Hyderabad in December 1942. In March 1943, he was posted to 1/19 Hyderabad, stationed in Iraq. 1/19 Hyderabad was then part of the

24th Indian Infantry Brigade The 24th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in February 1941, in India and at first assigned to the 10th Indian Infantry Division, and fought in the Anglo-Iraq ...

, attached to the 6th Indian Infantry Division. By the time Raina joined his battalion in Iraq, the major actions in which

Iraqforce Iraqforce was a British and Commonwealth formation that came together in the Kingdom of Iraq. The formation fought in the Middle East during World War II. Background During World War I, the British Army defeated the Ottoman Army in the Middle Eas ...

had been involved in were over. While at

Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, ...

, Raina was seriously wounded in a grenade-throwing accident which left him with severe wounds in his thighs and resulted in the loss of an eye. He had a glass eye in place for the rest of his career in the army. In July 1944, Raina's battalion returned to India and was attached to the 26th Indian Infantry Brigade, which that December was sent to Burma attached to the 36th Indian Infantry Division He was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for his service in the Burma Campaign.

Post-Independence

He was the Brigade Commander at

Chushul Chushul is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Durbuk tehsil, in the area known as "Chushul Valley", south of the Pangong Lake and west of the Spanggur Lake. The Line of Actual Control with China runs about 5 m ...

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

during November 1962. He was awarded the

Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...

for his handling of the Battle of

. He was a veteran of the

1962 war The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...

and

1971 war The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decemb ...

s. On 5 January 1965, Lieutenant-Colonel Raina was appointed Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of the XXXIII Corps in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. On 7 October 1971, Raina was appointed General Officer Commanding of II Corps in the Khulna sector, with the acting rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

. Raina was awarded the

for his contributions in the War. Raina was appointed GOC-in-C, Western Command on 27 October 1973. He served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1 June 1975 to 31 May 1978. During his tenure as the COAS, the central government led by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

declared a state of national emergency in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Before the imposition of the emergency, it is believed that the Prime Minister asked for the Army's support in the venture, but General Raina bluntly told the Prime Minister ''that the army would not be used to 'further her ends' but obey only those orders of a 'legally construed government.' '' . This was considered a crucial moment that kept the Indian Army out of politics at a critical juncture.Militarism in India:The Army and Civil Society in Consensus
by Apurba Kundu

Later life

Raina died on 19 May 1980 in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, while serving as India's High Commissioner to Canada. Following his funeral and cremation with full military honours in Delhi on 25 May, his son-in-law, together with his nephew, Squadron Leader K. K. Zalpuri, immersed his ashes in the Ganges at

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the righ ...

on 27 May.

Personal life

On 25 February 1949, Raina married Marie Antoinette Florence Kurtz, who was French. The couple had a son, Jyotishwar Narain (1949–March 1974) and a daughter, Anita (born 1952). Jyoti Narain, who followed his father into the Army and joined his old regiment, was killed in a motorcycle accident in March 1974. Anita married Arun Thapan.

Awards and decorations

Dates of rank

Notes

References

External links

Bio of General Tapishwar Narain Raina
on

Bharat Rakshak Bharat Rakshak ("Defenders of India") is a website devoted to discussing the Military of India. It was started and is run by military enthusiasts. History Bharat Rakshak was started in April 1997 by bringing together the individual websites of In ...

Chronological list of Indian Commanders-in-Chief since 1947
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raina, Tapishwar Narain 1921 births 1980 deaths Kashmiri Hindus Kashmiri Pandits People from Srinagar Kashmiri people Chiefs of Army Staff (India) Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra Generals of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service High Commissioners of India to Canada Indian generals National Defence College, India alumni