Colleagues of decorated Army officer Lieutenant General Manoj Pande describe him as a humble and cordial person who would bring to the Army a vast and varied experience with him at the helm of the Indian Army.
On Monday, he was named the next Chief of Army Staff who will succeed Gen M M Naravane, who will retire on April 30. Gen Pande, who is from the Corps of Engineers, will take over the 13 lakh-strong force on April 30, after serving as the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) for a brief tenure of three months.
Gen Pande will be the first Army chief from the Corps of Engineers — a position that was considered an exclusive preserve of the Army’s combat arms. He was also the senior-most officer among other contenders for the post.
Prior to his appointment as the Vice Chief in February, he headed the critical Kolkata-headquartered eastern command of the Army which looks after West Bengal and India’s North-East, including the Line of Actual Control (LAC) opposite the Tibet Autonomous Region.
While the formal orders came in on Monday, officials familiar with the development said it was informally finalised when Gen Pande took over as the Vice Chief.
This was further reiterated by the government when it chose to keep the position of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) vacant after India’s first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat died in a sudden helicopter crash in December last year. The appointment of Gen Naravane as the CDS then would have affected the usual selection process of the next Army chief.
Gen Pande is from the same 61st NDA course, as Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, which would be important to supplement efforts of the three services. Even Gen Naravane shared the same NDA course with former IAF and Navy chiefs Air Chief Marshal RK Bhadauria and Admiral Karambir Singh.
ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER
An alumnus of the premier National Defence Academy, Gen Pande was commissioned in December 1982 in The Bombay Sappers and has a rich experience of serving both along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) opposite China as well as the Line of Control (LOC) facing Pakistan in the nearly four decades of his career.
As the eastern Army commander, he oversaw critical operations and events in the North-East, including a major face-off with Chinese troops near Yangtse in Tawang sector and other counter-insurgency operations in the north east.
He was also the Commander-in-Chief of the crucial tri-service Andaman & Nicobar Command (CINCAN) from June 2020 to May 2021.
The General Officer has commanded 117 Engineer Regiment during Operation PARAKRAM in the sensitive Pallanwala Sector of Jammu and Kashmir, along the Line of Control.
Gen Pande’s other critical appointments include command of an Engineer Brigade in the Western Theatre as part of Strike Corps, an Infantry Brigade in Akhnoor sector along Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, a Mountain Division in the High Altitude Area of Western Ladakh and command of a Corps, deployed along the LAC and also in Counter Insurgency Operations area of Eastern Command.
He has also been an 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.
SHAPING STRATEGIES
Officers who know him closely told News18 that Gen Pande is known to be a cordial and warm person who has always been “very approachable” to his colleagues.
“His experience as the CINCAN will come handy as the defence forces will move towards theaterisation and greater synergy,” an Army officer said, requesting anonymity.
Gen Pande’s experience of serving at the LAC will go a long way in shaping the Army’s future strategies at eastern Ladakh, amid a continuing military deadlock with China since May 2020, a second officer said.
“With his experience of handling the tragic Mon incident at Nagaland and other counter-insurgency operations in the North-East, he will be well-equipped to steer strategies in the area, where the scope of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) is now limited,” the officer added.
His son is an officer in the Indian Air Force.
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