Born in Sainj village, in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district, in 1958, Gen Bipin Rawat belonged to a family of Army officers – his father Laxman Singh Rawat had retired as Lieutenant General in the Army.
Sainj is situated at a significant height and is around 42 km from the district headquarters and approximately 4 km from Yamkeshwar. While 2011 Census data shows Sainj had 21 households and a population of 93, most of the people have by now migrated from the small village.
Rawat did not spend much time at his native village — he left for Dehradun for schooling at an early age.