Lt. Gen. Manoj Pande to take over as Indian Army Chief on April 30

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Lieutenant General Manoj Pande will take over as the next army chief on April 30, the defence ministry announced on Monday, with General Manoj Mukund Naravane set to complete his term on that date.

Pande, who is currently serving as the vice chief, will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers, also known as sappers, to hold the top position. Officers from the sappers have served as army commanders and vice chiefs, but never held the army chief’s position.

Born on May 6, 1962, Pande will serve as army chief for more than two years. Service chiefs end their term after three years of service or when they turn 62, whichever is earlier.

Pande will take over as the army’s 29th chief at a time when India is working on a road map for the military’s theaterisation to best utilise the resources of the three services for future wars and operations, and when the country is caught in a lingering border row with China.

His appointment also comes at a time when indigenisation of military hardware is the government’s top priority and military planners are assessing the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on India’s military preparedness as two-thirds of the country’s military equipment is of Soviet or Russian-origin.

India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, who was killed in a helicopter crash last December, was spearheading the theaterisation drive. The government is yet to appoint a successor. The CDS’s demise was seen as a setback to the ongoing military reforms, including theaterisation.

The government has gone by seniority in naming Pande as the next chief as he is currently the senior-most officer in the army after Naravane. In the past, the government has selected new service chiefs from a panel of top officers and overlooked seniority.

For instance, the government superseded two top generals — Lieutenant Generals Praveen Bakshi and PM Hariz — to appoint General Rawat as army chief on December 31, 2016. Rawat’s experience in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast tipped the scales in his favour.

Before assuming the charge of vice chief on February 1, Pande was heading the Kolkata-based Eastern Command that is responsible for guarding India’s borders with China in the eastern sector.

His tenure saw the Indian Army deploy new weapon systems in the eastern sector to strengthen its posture against the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), amid the lingering border row in Ladakh.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982. He commanded an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala Sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

Operation Parakram, the large-scale mobilisation of troops and weapons to the western border, followed the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

In his 39-year military career, Pande has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, infantry brigade along LoC, a mountain division in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the northeast. He was the commander-in-chief of Andaman and Nicobar Command before he took charge of Eastern Command.

Pande has undergone courses at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi.

“He is an outstanding officer and will make a good chief,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), who was the Northern Army Commander when Pande was commanding a division in the Ladakh sector.

“Appointments to the top job are based on merit and professionalism. Officers from the Corps of Engineers have served as army commanders and held other important posts. It’s a combat arm like infantry or armoured corps,” said former army chief General JJ Singh (retd), commenting on Pande’s appointment.

With Pande taking over as the army chief on April 30, all three chiefs will be from the same NDA course. “Coursemates enjoy a unique rapport and get along very well. It will be good for jointness ,” said a senior officer.

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and General Pande are from the 61st NDA course. Pande was in Lima squadron, while Chaudhari and Hari Kumar were in Juliet squadron.

(Hindustan Times)