Gen Manoj Pande becomes first Chief from Corps of Engineers

Gen Naravane handed over charge to Gen Pande on Saturday morning in Delhi. Gen Pande is the most senior Army officer in the country, and has spent the majority of his career serving along the northern borders facing China. This is important as the two-year standoff with China remains unresolved.

Gen Pande is the first Army Chief who comes from the Corps of Engineers. He was commissioned in December 1982 in The Bombay Sappers.

Newly appointed Gen Manoj Pande with Gen MM Naravane. (Twitter/@adgpi)

He will be the 29th Army Chief, and all previous Chiefs have come from Infantry, Artillery or the Armoured Corps. In his 39-year career, Gen Pande has tenanted several sensitive positions at various levels.

He commanded an Engineer brigade in the Western Theatre, as part of Strike Corps and an Infantry brigade along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. He also commanded a Mountain Division in western Ladakh’s high-altitude region, and a Corps along the Line of Actual Control in counter-insurgency operations area in the Eastern Command.

As an Army Commander, Gen Pande has served in two different theatres. He was chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command, which a tri-services command; he then headed the Kolkata-headquartered Eastern Command, before taking over as Vice Chief of the Army in February.

It was during Gen Pande’s tenure as the Eastern Army Commander that 13 civilians were killed in a botched Army operation in Nagaland in early December. A Court of Inquiry was ordered by him, which has been completed but its findings have not been made public yet.

India has also enhanced its posture along the Line of Actual Control with China after the standoff began, including improving its surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance efforts in the Eastern Command.

He has also served as the Assistant Military Secretary, Colonel Q of a Mountain Division in the High Altitude Area, Brigade General Staff (Operations) at Headquarters Eastern Command. He was the Chief Engineer in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He has also been the Additional Director General in the Military Operations Directorate at Army Headquarters, Chief of Staff at Headquarters Southern Command, and Director General Discipline Ceremonial & Welfare at the Army Headquarters.

General Manoj Pande, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC takes over as the 29th #COAS of #IndianArmy from General MM Naravane.

जनरल मनोज पांडे, परम विशिष्ट सेवा मेडल, अति विशिष्ट सेवा मेडल, विशिष्ट सेवा मेडल, ऐड डि कैंप ने जनरल एम एम नरवणे से #भारतीयसेना के 29वें #सेनाध्यक्ष का पदभार संभाला। pic.twitter.com/Mphsz1pvrP

— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) April 30, 2022

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An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Gen Pande has also undergone courses at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi. He is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva, Ati Vishisht Seva and Vishisht Seva medals.

Apart from the challenge of dealing with an increasingly aggressive China, Gen Pande will also have to lead the Army’s role in theaterisation of the armed forces, which intends to replace the existing structures of the armed forces with two to three land-based commands, an air defence command, and an integrated maritime command, increasing the jointness among the Army, Navy and Air Force. The operational responsibilities of the theatres will go to their respective commanders.

Outgoing Chief Gen Naravane had taken over on December 31, 2019 as Gen Bipin Rawat was appointed the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff. After Gen Rawat’s untimely death in a helicopter crash in December last year, Gen Naravane was expected to be the frontrunner to be appointed as the second CDS. But that did not happen.

In the absence of the CDS, Gen Naravane, as the senior-most four-star officer in the military, had taken over the responsibility of the Chiefs of Staffs Committee, handling some of the responsibilities of the CDS. As he retires, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari will take over that role as the senior-most service chief.