Lt Gen Manoj Pande on Monday has been appointed as India's Army Chief. He is the first engineer to be promoted to the top post.
Pande, the current vice-chief of the Army, will take over as the army chief at the end of April after the present COAS M M Naravane retires.
“Government has decided to appoint Lt Gen Manoj Pande as the next chief of army staff,” the defense ministry announced on Monday.
Lt Gen Manoj Pande had earlier taken over as the new Vice Chief of the Indian Army after commanding the eastern command which looks after all northeastern states sharing borders with China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982.
Lieutenant General Pande commanded an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Operation Parakram, the large-scale mobilisation of troops and weapons to the western border, followed the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
In his 39-year military career, Lt General Pande has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, an infantry brigade along LoC, a mountain division in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the northeast.
He was the commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command before he took charge of the Eastern Command.
(with ANI inputs)
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