Lt Gen Manoj C Pande, presently Vice Chief of the Army Staff, has been appointed as the next Chief of the Army Staff. He will assume the post on April 30, 2022. Pande will be succeeding Lt. Gen. MM Naravane.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Defence said on Monday, “The government has appointed Lt Gen Manoj C Pande, presently Vice Chief of the Army Staff, as the next Chief of the Army Staff with effect from the afternoon of April 30, 2022.”
Born on May 6, 1962, Lt Gen Manoj C Pande was commissioned on December 24, 1982 in the Corps of Engineers (Bombay Sappers) of the Indian Army.
During his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. The Command appointments of Lt Gen Manoj C Pande include Command of an Engineer Brigade in the Western Theatre, as part of Strike Corps and an Infantry Brigade along with Line-of-Control in Jammu & Kashmir. Other important Command appointments include a Mountain Division in the high-altitude area of the Western Ladakh and Command of a Corps, deployed along the LAC and in Counter Insurgency Operations area of Eastern Command.
In the rank of Lt General, the officer has held important appointments including that of Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman & Nicobar Command and as the GOC-in-C of the Eastern Command at Kolkata before getting appointed as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
Lt Gen Manoj C Pande is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and has undergone courses at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi.
For his illustrious service, Lt Gen Manoj C Pande has been conferred with Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.
He has served as Chief Engineer in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He has also been posted as Additional Director General in the Military Operations Directorate at Army Headquarters, Chief of Staff Headquarters Southern Command and Director General Discipline Ceremonial & Welfare at the Army Headquarters.
Lt Gen Pande is a graduate of Staff College, Camberley (United Kingdom) and attended the Higher Command (HC) and National Defence College (NDC) Courses.
He is also the Colonel Commandant, Bombay Sappers. There are three groups of Sappers- Bombay, Madras and Bengal Engineering Group. Sappers are combat support arms providing mobility for their own forces and denying mobility for enemy forces.