General Manoj Pande today took over as the new Chief of Army Staff. He succeeded General Manoj Mukund Naravane. General Pande is the 29th Army Chief and the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to get this opportunity.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, General Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982. He commanded an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
In his 39-year military career, 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.
Earlier this morning, outgoing Army Chief General Naravane was given a guard of honour at the South Block lawns in New Delhi prior to relinquishing his duty. He called on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. In a tweet, the Defence Minister said, General Naravane’s contribution as a military leader has strengthened India’s defence capabilities and preparedness.