Career
He has also served as the head of an Indian Armed Forces delegation to strengthen ties with China and hold direct talks with the PLA and was the Indian Army officer in charge of China-related and border issues. The citation for the Vir Chakra reads as follows
Gazette Notification: 18 President/2000,15-8-99
Operation: - Date of Award: 15 August 1999
Citation:
Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Kumar Joshi, 13 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles, was tasked to capture the strategically vital Point 5140 in Drass Sector during "Operation Vijay". He also personally supervised all preliminary actions before the attack.
During the attack on 20 June 1999, Lieutenant Colonel Joshi kept motivating his company commanders and kept staging himself forward with utter disregard to his personal safety.
Displaying exceptional presence of mind, he responded to changing battle situations in a most competent manner, His leading from the front and being well forward in battle acted as a morale booster to the attaching troops. Drawing inspiration from him, the attacking companies surmounted the heavy odds, rugged in-hospitable terrain and enemy fire to close in and capture the objective, important peak of Point 5140.
In the movie LOC Kargil, he was portrayed by Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.