New Delhi: After incumbent Gen MM Naravane retired, Gen Manoj Pande was named the 29th Chief of the Army Staff on Saturday.
Gen Pande, who was serving as vice head at the time, became the force’s first officer from the Corps of Engineers.
Gen Pande was the head of the Eastern Army Command, which was entrusted with protecting the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors before taking over as deputy chief of the Army on February 1.
Gen Pande assumed command of the Army at a time when India is grappling with a slew of security issues, notably along its borders with China and Pakistan.
As the Army chief, he will also have to coordinate with the Navy and the Indian Air Force on the government’s plan to roll out theatre commands.
India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Bipin Rawat, who died in a helicopter crash in December last year, was in charge of the theaterization plan. Gen Rawat’s successor has yet to be named by the government.
Gen Pande also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN), India’s only tri-services command, during his remarkable career.
He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982 after graduating from the National Defence Academy.
Gen Pande has held a number of notable command and staff positions in both conventional and counter-insurgency operations in a variety of environments.
During Operation Parakram in Jammu and Kashmir, he led an engineer regiment along the Line of Control, an engineer brigade in the western sector, an infantry brigade along the LoC, a mountain division in the high-altitude territory of western Ladakh, and a corps in the northeast.
His staff exposures include Brigade Major of a Mountain Brigade in the Northeast, Assistant Military Secretary (AMS) in the Military Secretary’s Branch and Brigadier General Staff (Operations) at the Eastern Command headquarters.
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