Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was born on March 14th , 1945 at Indore.He received his education from St Xavier School in Jaipur. He joined the IAF on 31st December 1963 in the fighter stream. Initially he served with No.23 and No.27 Squadron. He bravely fought both the war of 1965 and the 1971. Shashindra Pal Tyagi was selected for the first batch of conversion on Jaguar Interdiction aircraft when it was introduced in 1980s. Shashindra Pal Tyagi was one of the two Indian Pilots who got selected for a Photo Recce Course at Coltishall when he was taking at Lossiemouth. He returned to India and commanded the No.14 Squadron.

He graduated from TACDE. Apart from that he did many courses including Junior Commanders Course, National Defense College courses and Defense Services Staff College courses. In 1985 he was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for dedicated service in 1985. Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was appointed as an instructor at TACDE. After that he was sent to Saudi Arabia as the Defense Attache at the Indian Consulate. In 1994 he received the Ati Vishist Seva Medal. His other major appointments are Director Operations of Air Defence, ACAS of Intelligence ect. Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was also the instructor of Defence Services Staff College at Wellington.

Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was promoted the rank of Air Marshal and posted as the SASO of Central Air Command for a short period. After that he was appointed as the AOC-in-C of Central Air Command. He also commanded the Central, South Western and Western Air Command. Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi assumed the charge of 20th Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force from 31 December 2004. Air Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was the recipient of Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) in 2003 for his distinguished service to the nation. He was also given the honorary post of ADC by the President of India .He retired from the IAF on 31st March 2007.