Lt Gen Manoj Pande is the news COAS, first from Corps of Engineers
Lt Gen Manoj Pande will take over his new office on May 1 after General Manoj Mukund Naravane completes his tenure on April 30.
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New Delhi, April 19: Lieutenant General Manoj Pande will succeed General Manoj Mukund Naravane as the 29th Chief of the Indian Army (COAS). Naravane was in charge of the top office since December 31, 2019. He is currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff. It should be noted that Lieutenant General Pande is the first engineer to become the COAS. He will assume the charge on May 1. To date, army officers from only Infantry, Armoured Corps, and Artillery have made it to four-star rank in the Indian Army.
Born on May 06, 1962, Lt Gen Manoj Pande was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in 1982. 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 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.
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He 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 Pande has been conferred with Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.
The COAS (also called the Army Chief) is the head of the Indian Army Headquarters and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The person is the principal advisor to the Defence Minister on matters exclusively relating to the army as well as a key military adviser to the President, the supreme commander of the armed forces.
