Gen Manoj Pande took charge as the 29th Chief of the Army Staff on Saturday after incumben🔯t Gen MM Naravane retired from service.
Gen Pande, who was serving as the vice chief, became t🌄he first officer from the Corps of Engineers to helm the force.
Before taking c♔harge as vice chief of🀅 the Army on February 1, Gen Pande was heading the Eastern Army Command, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors.
An alumnus of the National Defence🎀 Academy, he was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in De🥂cember 1982.
Career trajectory of General Manoj Pande
Gen Pande has held several prestigious command and staff assignments in conventional as well as counter-insurgency 🥃operations in all types of terrain.
He commanded an engineer regiment along the Line of Control during the Operation Parakram in Jammu and Kashmir, an engineer brigade in the western sector, ༺an infantry brigade along LoC and a mountain division in high-altitude area 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 Branch𓄧 and Brigadier General 𝄹Staff (Operations) at the Eastern Command headquarters.
In his distinguished career, Gen Pande also serv꧟ed as the Commander-iꦕn-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN), which is India's only tri-services command.
Gen Pande took charge of the Army at a time India is facing myriad security challenges, including along th🦹e borders with China and Pak♏istan.
As the Army chief, he will also have to coordinate with the Navy and the Indian Air Force on the government's plꦆan to roll out theatre commands.
The theaterisation plan was being implemented by India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in Dec𝔍ember last. The government is yet to💎 appoint Gen Rawat's successor.
(With PTI Inputs)
