Guwahati: General Manoj Pande was named the 29th Chief of the Army Staff, after incumbent Gen MM Naravane retired from service on Saturday
Gen Pande, who was serving as vice head at the time, became the force’s first officer from the Corps of Engineers.
Before becoming vice chief of the Army on February 1, Gen Pande was in charge of the Eastern Army Command, which was entrusted with protecting the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors.
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.
According to reports, as Army chief he will have to work 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 theorisation 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.
Pande 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.