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NEW DELHI: General Manoj Pande took over as the 29th chief of the 12-lakh strong Indian Army from General MM Naravane on Saturday, even as the government is yet to appoint the country’s next chief of defence staff almost five months after General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash.
The main operational challenge before Gen Pande, the first-ever officer commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) to head the Army, will be the ongoing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.
With India and China continuing to forward deploy over 50,000 troops each and heavy weapon systems in high-altitude region, the last corps commander-level meeting between the two armies on March 11 had failed to achieve breakthrough.
Gen Pande has dealt extensively with China in his earlier appointments as the 4 ‘Gajraj’ Corps commander in northeast and the eastern Command chief. He is also well-acquainted with the western front with Pakistan, having commanded an infantry brigade along the Line of Control in J&K and a mountain division in the high-altitude area of western Ladakh during his 39-year-long military career.
Lt-Gen Pande was also the chief of the unified Andaman & Nicobar Command, India’s only ‘geographical’ or ‘theatre’ command till now, from June 2020 to May 2021.
The main operational challenge before Gen Pande, the first-ever officer commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) to head the Army, will be the ongoing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh.
With India and China continuing to forward deploy over 50,000 troops each and heavy weapon systems in high-altitude region, the last corps commander-level meeting between the two armies on March 11 had failed to achieve breakthrough.
Gen Pande has dealt extensively with China in his earlier appointments as the 4 ‘Gajraj’ Corps commander in northeast and the eastern Command chief. He is also well-acquainted with the western front with Pakistan, having commanded an infantry brigade along the Line of Control in J&K and a mountain division in the high-altitude area of western Ladakh during his 39-year-long military career.
Lt-Gen Pande was also the chief of the unified Andaman & Nicobar Command, India’s only ‘geographical’ or ‘theatre’ command till now, from June 2020 to May 2021.
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