Army vice Chief Lieutenant General Manoj Pande was appointed the next Chief of the Indian Army on Monday. On May 1, he will hold office.
India’s First engineer to hold the post
He is the first Corps of Engineers officer to be appointed Chief of Army Staff. He will take over for General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who is set to finish his 28-month term on April 30.
The government has decided to name Lieutenant General Manoj Pande as the next chief of army staff,” Defense officials said.
Lt Gen Pande, a National Defence Academy graduate, was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982.
During Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, he commanded an engineer regiment.
The large-scale mobilisation of troops and weapons to the western border, known as Operation Parakram, followed the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament, which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
