With incumbent Army Chief General MM Naravane set to retire by the end of this month, the government on Monday appointed Lt General Manoj Pande as the new Army Chief.?

Lt General Pande will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the Chief of Army Staff. He has served as a Chief Engineer in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

He took charge as the new Vice Chief of the Indian Army in February in 2022.?

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, where he was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982.
During Operation Parakram, Lt General Pande commanded an engineer regiment in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in 2001.

Lt General Pande has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, an infantry brigade along LoC, and also led a mountain division in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the northeast.

He was also commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command before he took charge of the Eastern Command.

Lt General Pande has been conferred with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, the Chief of Army Staff Commendation and twice with GOC-in-C Commendation.(With agency inputs)