Lt Gen Manoj Pande becomes first sapper to be Indian Army chief

NEW DELHI: Indian Army's Vice Chief Lt Gen Manoj C. Pande was on Monday appointed as the next Chief of the Army Staff - the first engineer to hold the top post. He succeed Gen M.M. Naravane on April 30, 2022.

Born on May 6, 1962, Lt General Pande was commissioned on December 24, 1982 in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers), and during his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, has served in a variety of command, staff, and instructional appointments.

He has 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. His other important command appointments include a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area of western Ladakh and a Corps deployed along the LAC and in the counter-insurgency operations area of the Eastern Command.

He had been Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command and as the Eastern Army Commander at Kolkata before taking over as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy, he has also studied at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi. (IANS)

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