Indian Army Gets A New-look Top Brass
The Indian Army got a new-look top brass on February 1, with simultaneous appointments of new a Vice-Chief and commanders of the Northern and Eastern Armies which are the most critical operational commands.
Lt General Manoj Pande is the new Vice-Chief post the retirement of Lt General CP Mohanty, and as the senior-most three-star officer, poised for succeeding General MM Naravane as the Chief of the Indian Army upon the latter’s retirement on April 30.
Lt Generals Upendra Dwivedi and Rana Pratap Kalita have taken over as the General Officers Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern and Eastern Commands respectively. Lt General Dwivedi fills the shoes of the Kargil War hero Lt General YK Joshi upon his retirement on January 31. Lt General Kalita takes over from Lt General Pande upon the latter’s movement to Army Headquarters as the Vice-Chief.
The Northern and Eastern Army Commands are under the spotlight on account of the military stand-off with China on the Line of Actual Control.
In other top-level appointments, Lt General PGK Menon, till recently the Commander of the 14 Corps which is locked in a face-off with the Chinese PLA for the last 21 months in Eastern Ladakh, has been named as the new Military Secretary at Army Headquarters. The Military Secretariat is responsible for promotions, postings and transfers of senior Army officers.
Lt General GVK Reddy is the new Director-General of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), upon the retirement of Lt General KJS Dhillon, who was feted for his command of counter-insurgency troops in the Kashmir Valley in his previous assignment.
As reported by BW Businessworld earlier, the new Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt General Pande is from the Corps of Engineers, which makes him a rarity in the Army top brass which is dominated by Infantry officers. Should be make it to Chief on May 1 or earlier, he will be the first from the Corps of Engineers to make it to four-star rank in the Indian Army.
Commissioned as an officer in the Bombay Sappers in December 1982, Lt General Pande, before heading the Eastern Army, has commanded a Corps deployed along the LAC in the North-East, a Mountain Division in Western Ladakh and an Infantry Brigade along the Line of Control (LoC) besides an Engineers Brigade in a Strike Corps.
He took an active part in Operation Vijay in Kargil in 1999 and Operation Parakram in 2001-02, which involved mobilisation for war after the attack on the Indian Parliament by Pakistan-led terrorists.
In the course of his distinguished military career, Lt General Pande has served as Chief Engineer to UN forces in their Mission in Ethiopia &Eritrea. He has also attended the National Defence College, the Higher Command Course, and the UK Staff College at Camberley.
His appointment as the Vice-Chief is an indication that he has emerged unscathed from last December’s tragic shooting of innocent civilians in Nagaland by special forces under his command.
