Bana Singh

Subedar Major and Honorary Captain Bana Singh, PVC (6 January 1949) is a retired Indian soldier and a recipient of the nation’s highest military award, the Param Vir Chakra. He has held the ranks Naib Subedar, Subedar, Subedar Major and Honorary Captain in the Indian Army. As a Naib Subedar, he led the team which conquered the highest peak in the Siachen area as part of Operation Rajiv. The peak was named as “Bana Post” in his honour.

Bana Singh was born into a Sikh family in Kadyal in Jammu and Kashmir on 6 January 1949. His father was a farmer and his uncles were soldiers in the Indian Army.

He enrolled in the Indian Army on 6 January 1969 into the 8th Battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAK LI).He was trained at the High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg and also at another school at Sonamarg.

Naib Subedar Bana Singh volunteered to be a member of a task force constituted in June 1987 to clear an intrusion by an adversary in the Siachen Glacier area at an altitude of 21,000 feet. The post was virtually an impregnable glacier fortress with ice walls, 1500 feet high, on both sides. Naib Subedar Bana Singh led his men through an extremely difficult and hazardous route. He inspired them by his indomitable courage and leadership. The brave Naib Subedar and his men crawled and closed in on the adversary. Moving from trench to trench, lobbing hand grenades and charging with the bayonet, he cleared the post all intruders.

Nb Subedar Bana Singh displayed the most conspicuous gallantry and leadership under the most adverse conditions.