Rear Admiral Purushottam Dutt Sharma, AVSM, NM, IN (Retd)

Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India)

Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India), known as RLSS India, is the official Indian branch of the Royal Life Saving Society (Commonwealth) and a full member of the International Life Saving Federation. Founded in 1998 by Rear Admiral P.D. Sharma after a road accident killed 29 schoolchildren, it is headquartered in Pune and now operates through four zones covering North, East, South and West India. It trains lifeguards and the general public in water safety, rescue techniques and CPR, working with schools, community pools and recreational facilities to reduce India's estimated 30,000 annual drowning deaths.

Rashtriya Life Saving Society (India) reports the following, on its own site:

• Trained over 400,000 local youth in lifesaving skills and first aid over two decades