Brigadier Rattan Nath Sharma, MVC, was an officer in the Indian Army who served with the Punjab Regiment, and was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. The award was made for his actions during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, when he displayed exemplary courage and outstanding leadership while commanding the 21st Battalion, Punjab Regiment, in a successful assault on a fortified Pakistani position near the Poonch River in the Jammu and Kashmir sector of the Western Front. He retired from the army in 1977 as a brigadier, after which he was the chief managing director of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative. He died in a vehicle accident in December 2011.