- First person in Telangana to get the honour
Vishnubhotla Nagaraj Srinivas, an Air Force officer from Telangana, is awarded the Visisht Seva Medal (VSM) by the President of India on the Republic Day. On 1July 2020 Srinivas got promoted to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. Air Commander V N Srinivas is the first person from Telangana to rise to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal and also to secure the distinction of VSM, which will be permanently decorating as suffix to his name throughout life.
With his rich experience in Defence Accounting, Srinivas, has authored two professional books titled ‘Budgeting For Indian Defence: Issues of contemporary Relevance’ (2008)& Defence offsets: International experience and Implications for India’ (2010). Both the books were research products when he was a Research Fellow at Premier Aerospace Power Think Tank, Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), New Delhi.
Srinivas was commissioned in the Accounts branch of Indian Air Force on 14 June 1985 after undergoing training at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. Born in Warangal on 8 August 1963, he did his schooling at Warangal and Hyderabad. He gradutated from Osmania University,Hyderabad, in 1983.
The officer holds a post graduate degree in Business Administration and M.Sc in Defence & Strategic Studies from Andhra University besides a degree in Law from Delhi University. He is also a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Tamil Nadu).
Professor Madabhushi Sridhar, former Central Information Commissioner, has congratulated the Air Commander for this rare distinction and said he richly deserved it. Being a highly disciplined and sincere officer, his services to the motherland are rightly recognised and rewarded, he added.
