# Devendra Kumar Joshi

Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (born 4 July 1954) is the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Vice Chairman of Islands Development Agency (IDA). He was an Admiral in the Indian Navy and served as the 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, having assumed office on 31 August 2012. He is a specialist in anti-submarine warfare. He resigned on 26 February 2014, taking responsibility for a series of accidents, thus becoming the first Indian Navy Chief to resign.
Admiral Joshi has joined the Uttarakhand War Memorial as one of its patrons in May 2020. Subsequently, paying homage to brave sons/daughters of Uttarakhand in security of the nation and furthering the cause of the Uttarakhand War Memorial Trust, he has also contributed all his current and future annuities (for gallantry awards/decorations) towards the trust in July 2020.

## Early life

Devendra Kumar Joshi was born to Hira Ballabh Joshi, an Indian Forest Service Officer and Hansa Joshi on 4 July 1954 in Almora, Uttarakhand. After completing his early education in various schools wherever his father was posted, he moved to Hansraj College of the University of Delhi. While studying in Delhi, he was selected into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy in January 1972 and was subsequently commissioned in 1974.
In an interview with Doordarshan, when asked why he had chosen to join the Navy, he replied, "I think it was the lure of the seas, the pull of the unknown...we belong to the hills. Of the land, the hilly terrains, one had seen enough!" As he also said in the same interview, "from both my father's side and my mother's side, for seven generations nobody had been in the Services. Therefore, they [my parents] had not even thought of the Armed Forces as a career option for me. However, once I had made up my mind, they were fully supportive".

## Military career

Joshi graduated from the Indian Naval Academy and was commissioned into the executive branch of the Indian Navy on 1 April 1974. He is also an alumnus of the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, the College of Naval Warfare, Goa, and the National Defence College, New Delhi.

### Chief of Naval Staff

Subsequently, Joshi was elevated as the 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, having assumed office on 31 August 2012.
Admiral Joshi resigned following a fire aboard Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuratna on 26 February 2014. The Times of India wrote that Admiral D. K. Joshi, who was to serve as the Navy Chief till August 2015, "was a hard taskmaster who always ran tight ships. He was unforgiving as a commanding officer wherever he served, tightening screws wherever he went." Many naval officers felt that he had lived up to his own exacting standards by resigning.

## Islands Development Agency

The Islands Development Agency (IDA) was constituted on 1 June 2017 under the Chairmanship of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and Admiral D. K. Joshi was designated as its Vice-Chairman, following the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's review meeting on the development of Indian Islands Territories. The major mandate of the Islands Development Agency includes guiding the policies, programmes and formulation of Integrated Master Plans for Comprehensive Development of the Islands. Islands Development Agency, with support of the NITI Aayog, is undertaking the holistic development of the Islands territories of India, while giving due consideration to their unique maritime and territorial bio-diversity.
The first IDA Meeting was held on 24 July 2017. IDA has so far met six times since its constitution, with the fourth review meeting held on 30 June 2018, being chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India himself. With the re-constitution of Islands Development Agency, the Government of India has been fast-tracking the holistic development its Islands territories.
The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the New Integrated Terminal Building of Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair via video conferencing on 18 July 2023. With a construction cost of around INR 710 crores, the new terminal building is capable of handling about 50 lakh passengers annually. Earlier the terminal had the capacity to handle 4000 tourists, and the new terminal has taken this number to 11,000 and 10 planes can be parked at any given time on the airport now.
Great Nicobar Island Development Project is a planned mega-infrastructure project for the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island in Andaman Sea of India. The island comes under the Nicobar district administration in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The International Container Transshipment Port (ICTP), also called the Galathea Bay Port is a proposed container transshipment port at Galathea Bay, Great Nicobar Island in the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, to be constructed at a cost of ₹44,000 crore. It has a natural depth of more than 20 meter. It is developed by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways under the Government of India. In September 2024, it was officially notified as the 13th major port of India. The first phase of development is expected to be commissioned in 2028.

## Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Joshi took oath on 8 October 2017 as the fourteenth Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a territory which is the largest archipelago system in the Bay of Bengal, composed of 836 islands, islets and rocks. He concurrently remains designated as Vice-Chairman Islands Development Agency also.

## Awards

| Param Vishisht Seva Medal | Ati Vishisht Seva Medal | Yudh Seva Medal | Nausena Medal |
| Vishisht Seva Medal | Paschimi Star | Operation Vijay Star | Sangram Medal |
| Operation Vijay Medal | Operation Parakram Medal | Sainya Seva Medal | 50th Anniversary of Independence Medal |
| 25th Anniversary of Independence Medal | 30 Years Long Service Medal | 20 Years Long Service Medal | 9 Years Long Service Medal |