VANCOUVER – Lt. General P.D. Bhargava (decorated with PVSM: Param Vashistha Sewa Medal and AVSM: Ati Vashistha Sewa Medal by the government of India) will be visiting Vancouver to preside over the 3rd award Annual Literary Festival awards ceremony of Writers International Network (WIN) on June 14, 2014. As the chief guest he will bestow awards of distinction on well known writers and artists like Daniela Elza, Manolis Aligizakis, Madhu Varshney, Angela Naccarato, Jarnail S. Sekha, Lilija Valis, Sattar Saberi, Mary Anne Anderson, Alan Hill and Zayra Yves. He will also bestow the Dr. Asha Bhargava Memorial Awards of Community / Literary Ambassadors on Barj S Dhahan, Sita Carboni, Ken Herar, Sonja Grgar, Shankhanaad Mallick, Anca Mihaela Bruma and Candice Tanaka.
Lt. Gen. P.D. Bhargava was born in 1938 in Garhdiwala (Hoshiarpur) , Punjab in a humble family with father who was a guard in Indian Railways and mother who was a devoted housewife. As the fourth sibling out of 10 brothers and sisters, he distinguished himself from an early age by excelling in his studies and shouldering many family responsibilities. He earned top honors in matriculation, and was selected to the National Defense Academy. He was commissioned as an officer in 1964, joining the Corps of Signals, the branch of the Indian Army that is responsible for telecommunications. Gen. Bhargava had a distinguished career in the Army, and served at many top posts including Directorate General of Military Operations (Army Headquarters), and Chief Signal Officer (Western Command). In 1994, he was appointed as the first Director General of the Rashtriya Rifles and raised the entirely new counter-insurgency force.
In 1995, he was appointed Signal Officer in Chief, the highest rank that can be achieved by a Signal Officer in the Indian Army. As SO-in-C, he commissioned the Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) of the Indian Army, the most advanced cutting edge communication network which was inaugurated by Prime Minister P.V. NarasimhaRao in 1996.
After retiring from the Army, Gen. Bhargava has held many distinguished positions in the civilian sector and has advised many government and other institutions. He joined the Amity Group of Institutions in 2001 as the first Director General of Amity Institute of Telecom and Technology Management (AITTM). Over the last decade, Gen. Bhargava has established AITTM as a world class institute, which is currently the foremost telecom educational and management training institutes in India, and one of the best in the world. Over his career, he has trained and nurtured thousands of young talented minds in the telecom sector. Several generations of telecom leaders has been trained by him, and look up to him for his constant guidance and mentorship. For his eminent status as a telecom leader and educator of thousands in the Gurgaon / NCR region and round the world, HITEC is delighted to confer him with the Life Time Achievement Award.
Those retired Signals officers or NCOs now living in lower mainland of Vancouver, Toronto or Boston, who would like to meet him, please contact Ashok Bhargava at 604-327-6040
