Lieutenant General Manoj Pande become India�s New Chief of Army Staff

Highlights:

Lieutenant General Manoj Pande will be replacing General Manoj Mukund Naravane as the 29th chief of the Indian Army.
Lieutenant General Manoj Pande has become the first engineer to become the chief of army staff (COAS).
He will be taking charge of this post from 1st May 2022.
On 1st February he replaced Lieutenant General CP Mohanty as the vice army chief.

Lieutenant General Pande: A fact File

He is an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun and the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla.
In 1982, he was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers after passing out from the IMA. Lt General Pande held prestigious command and staff assignments in counter-insurgency and conventional operations in all types of terrain during his 39-year military career. In the Western theatre, he has commanded an engineer brigade.
He has also commanded an infantry brigade along the Line of Control (LoC), in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the North-east region of the country.
Before taking over as the army�s vice-chief, he has also served as the Eastern Army Commander.
From June 2020 to May 2021, he served as the Andaman and Nicobar Command�s commander-in-chief.
After General Narvane retires, he will be the senior-most officer of the Army.
He has been conferred with the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Param Vishisht Seva Medal, and Vishisht Seva Medal, two times with the GOC-in-C Commendation, and the Chief of Army Staff Commendation.