Sunith Francis Rodrigues

General Sunith Francis Rodrigues PVSM, VSM
Born	September 19, 1933 Mumbai
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Army
Years of service	1952-1993
Rank	General
Unit	Regiment of Artillery
Commands held	Western Army Central Army Director General Military Training (DGMT)
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal Vishisht Seva Medal

General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, PVSM, VSM (born 19 September 1933) is a retired Indian army officer who was Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army^[1][2] from 1990 to 1993 and Governor of Punjab from 2004 to 2010. During his years as Governor of Punjab, he generally received a positive response from the Punjabi press and the Punjabi people accepted him as one of their own due to his strong campaigning for Punjabi interests in India.

Education

Born in Bombay in 1933, he was educated at St. Xaviers High School in Bombay.

Military service

He joined the joint Services Wing of the Indian Military Academy in 1949 and was commissioned in December 1952 into Regiment of Artillery. After commanding several field and self-proppelled artillery units he applied of pilot training in the Air Observation Post of the Artillery in 1964 and qualified as an artillery aviation pilot. Between 1964 and 1969, he logged more than 158 flying hours on observation aircraft and helicopters, including 65 hours of combat flying during the 1965 war in which his unit logged on more than 56 precision artillery fire to effect on enemy formations. He attended the Defence Services Staff College and took over as GSOII operations in XXXIII Corps HQ in 1971. In 1972, after the war with Pakistan, he was awarded the VSM for distinguished service. He later served as a GSOI operations of a division from 1973 to 1975. He commanded a mountain infantry brigade in a high altitude sector from 1975 to 1977 then attended the 1978 course at Royal College of Defence Studies in the UK. He was Chief Instructor at Defence Services Staff College from 1979 to November 1981, then took over the command of a division in a high altitude area. In 1982, he was awarded the Masters Degree in Defence Studies, was the Chief of Staff of a Corps from 1983 to September 1985 then took over as Director General Military Training.

He was GOC of a corps in the Northern Sector in 1986. He was Vice Chief of Army Staff from November 1987 to April 1989 and then GOC-in-C of Central Command from April 1989 to October 1989. He then took over Western Command from 1 November 1989 to 30 June 1990 and was the Chief of Army Staff from 1990 to 1993. He retired on 30 June 1993 after nearly 41 years of service.

General Rodrigues was known among his compatriots as a thinker and a strategist.

Public service

After his retirement he was Director of the International Centre, Goa for nearly six years. He served two terms on the National Security Advisory Board. Since his retirement, he has been engaged in social and literary pursuits and has also delivered talks on strategic issues. He takes a keen interest in education and empowering children to achieve their potential. He was on the Executive Council of Goa University for seven years and on the Managing Committee of the Goa Chamber of Commerce. He is also a long standing Member of the Goa Planning Board and on the Board of Governors of the Goa Institute of Management.

Governor of Punjab

He was appointed as Governor of Punjab and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh on 8 November 2004, and he was sworn into office on 16 November 2004.

He was succeeded by Shivraj Patil on 22 January 2010.^[3]

References

1. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262249
2. http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-colonel-who-got-us-siachen
3. "Shiv Raj Patil is 33rd Governor of Punjab". Punjab Newsline Network. 22 January 2010.