Harish Chandra Singh Rawat
Harish Chandra Singh Rawat | |
|---|---|
| File:Harish Chandra Singh Rawat, Everester.jpg | |
| Born | 3 July 1934 |
| Died | 20 January 2008 (aged 73) |
| Allegiance | India |
| Branch | Sashastra Seema Bal |
| Rank | Senior Instructor (Mountaineering) |
| Awards | |
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Harish Chandra Singh Rawat (3 July 1934 – 20 January 2008) was a mountaineer who climbed Mt. Everest in May 1965.[1] He was one of the 9 summiters during the first successful Indian Everest Expedition, the expedition was led by Captain M S Kohli.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] On 24 May 1965 Vohra and Ang Kami Sherpa had reached the top of Mount Everest together. A few days later, on 29 May and 12 years to the day from the first ascent of Mount Everest, the fourth and last summit team with Major H. P. S. Ahluwalia, Phu Dorjee Sherpa, and Rawat reached the summit. This was the first time three climbers had stood on the summit together, Rawat was the 7th Indian man and 22nd man in world to climb Mount Everest.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Rawat had graduated from Lucknow University in 1952 and joined central government service in the same year, in the Intelligence Bureau. He was posted as Deputy Central Intelligence Officer, Gorakhpur, in October 1963.[9] Thereafter he shifted to Special Service Bureau (now Sashastra Seema Bal). He was Joint Assistant Director in SSB headquarters in 1965.[10] In January 1970, he became the founder chief of the High Altitude Operations Training Centre, at Sandev, near Didihat.[11] In October 1972, it was merged with SSB's Frontier Academy at Gwaldam as its Mountaineering Wing, and Rawat became that wing's first Senior Instructor.[12]
Rawat died of lung cancer in New Delhi, aged 74.[8]
Mountaineering
[edit | edit source]Rawat participated in a number of expeditions including Nanda Devi, Sunanda Devi, Kanglacha, Hathi Parbat, Tirsuli, Rathong, Nanda Khat and Nun Kun. In 1962, he led a party, including Sonam Wangyal, another Everester of the 1965 expedition, to Kanglacha, 30 miles south of Leh. In 1963, Rawat climbed Hathi Parbat and a year later he was part of the Tirsuli and Sunanda Devi expedition. In the pre-Everest preparations, he climbed Rathong.
Kohli, who had led the 1965 Everest expedition, recruited Rawat to join a team on a secretive mission to Nanda Devi. The joint CIA / Indian Intelligence Bureau mission involved placing a nuclear powered listening device on the mountain in 1965 with several subsequent visits to Nanda Devi and Nanda Kot 1966 and 1967.[13] At that time (1965), he was and later worked for social welfare in Uttarakhand.
Honors and awards
[edit | edit source]He was awarded Arjuna award[14] and Padma Shri[15] for his achievements.
He was vice president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation.[8]
References
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- ^ a b c Rawat was a humble soul, dedicated to mountaineering: Kohli. One India. 21 January 2008
- ^ Gazette of India notification
- ^ Profile at SSB website, archived copy
- ^ Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs, M. S. Kohli and Kenneth J. Conboy, 2002, page 193
- ^ Training Records, Mountaineering Wing, SSB, archived copy
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). see 'World's Highest Intelligence Operation', pages 64-66
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