Vishisht Seva Medal

The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, lit. 'distinguished service medal') is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces.

Vishisht Seva Medal
Type	Military award
Awarded for	Distinguished service, to all ranks of the armed forces
Country	India
Presented by	President of India
Established	26 January 1960
Precedence
Next (higher)	Sena Medal (Army) Nau Sena Medal (Navy) Vayu Sena Medal (Air Force)
Equivalent	Yudh Seva Medal
Next (lower)	Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak[1]
← Vishisht Seva Medal, Class III. (till 27 January 1967)

From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize exceptional services in an operational environment.^[2] Since then the VSM has been restricted to non-operational service.

History

The Vishisht Seva Medal was originally instituted as the "Vishisht Seva Medal, Class III" on 26 January 1960. Five other medals were instituted on the same day - the Sainya Seva Medal, Sena Medal, Nao Sena Medal and the Vayu Sena Medal.^[3] It was renamed on 27 January 1961, and the badge signed.

Eligibility

The award may be granted posthumously and subsequent awards are represented by a bar worn on the ribbon. The award carries with it the right to use "VSM" as post-nominal letters. The medal was originally established as the "Vishisht Seva Medal, Class III".^[2] It was renamed to its present name on 27 January 1967. The design of the medal remained unchanged and the change be reflected only in the records.

Medal

The medal is a 35-mm circular medal, with a five-pointed star in the centre. It is suspended from a straight-bar suspender with the name on the edge. The state emblem with the name of the decoration in Hindi above - "Vishisht Seva Medal" in Hindi. The ribbon is 32 mm long in yellow, with three 2 mm dark blue stripes dividing it into four equal parts

See also

• Yudh Seva Medal - the war-time equivalent