Lt Gen. (Retd.) S K SINHA, PVSM

Born in 1926, Lt. Gen.(Retd.) Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM, graduated with Honours from Patna University in 1943 at the young age of 17. He joined the Army soon thereafter, passing out as the Best Cadet from Officers training School, Belgaum, the war time equivalent of Sword of Honour. He saw combat service during Second World War in Burma and Indonesia and after Independence in Kashmir. He served two tenures in Nagaland and Manipur taking part in counter insurgency operations.

In 1953, General Sinha secured the top position at the Defence Services Staff College in India and in 1962 again, at the Joint Services Staff College in the U.K. He held all levels of active command in the Army from a platoon to a field army. He commanded a battalion in Ladakh, a brigade in Manipur, a mountain division in Assam, an infantry division in Jammu, a corps in the Punjab and a field Army in the Western Theatre. He held key staff and instructional appointments. He served as Director, Military Intelligence, Adjutant General and Vice Chief of Army Staff at Army Headquarters. He also served as Instructor at Mhow and Staff College, Wellington. In 1949, he was appointed Secretary of the Indian delegation on delineation of the Cease Fire Line in Kashmir at a meeting convened by the United Nations. He led the Indian delegation to Italy in 1972 for a conference on application of human rights to warfare. He was awarded the Param Vishist Sewa Medal in 1973. He was made Honorary ADC to the President of India and also President of the Gorkha Brigade. In a publication in the USA by the noted South Asian expert, Stephen Cohen, he has been referred to as one of India’s outstanding Generals after Independence. He sought premature retirement from the Army in 1983.

In 1990 General Sinha was appointed India’s Ambassador to Nepal, when autocratic rule obtained in that country and bilateral relations with India had hit their nadir in the wake of the trade and transit impasse of 1989. During his tenure in Nepal, democracy was restored in Nepal and India-Nepal relations were raised to a high level of cordiality. The Prime Minister of India stated that General Sinha had played a major role in this happy development. The Prime Minister of Nepal wrote, “General Sinha was as much India’s Ambassador to Nepal as Nepal’s Ambassador to India”.

In 1997 General Sinha was appointed Governor of Assam at a time when insurgency in the State was at its peak. He crafted a three prong counter-insurgency strategy as a result of which Assam emerged out of the tunnel of militancy through attitudinal change among the people of Assam. This became possible because General Sinha was able to win the hearts and minds of the people. On his departure from Assam where he had been given a second tenure as Governor, he received numerous letters saying that he was more Assamese than any Assamese and he was a true son of the soil of Assam.

General Sinha has been a prolific writer having contributed nearly 300 edit page articles in national newspapers. He is the author of five books including one on Jammu and Kashmir Operation of 1947-48 and his autobiography, “A Soldier Recalls”. His other three books are Of Matters Military, Pataliputra and Veer Kuer Singh.

On 4th June, 2003, General Sinha sworn in as the 11th Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and remained till 25th June, 2008. He passed away on 17th November, 2016