Lieutenant General Manoj Pande, a mighty and experienced officer of the Indian Army, is set to take over as the country's new Army Chief today. Yes, and he will be the 29th Army Chief of the country. Earlier, Lt Gen Harpal Singh, engineer-in-chief in the Indian Army, handed over the costumes to Lt Gen Manoj Pandey, the Chief of the Army Staff nominated by the Corps of Engineers, on Friday. Manoj Pandey will be the first officer of the Corps of Engineers to take over as the Chief of Army Staff.

This is happening for the first time in the Indian Army that an officer of the Army's Engineer Corps is being given the command of the Army. In fact, 28 times before this, only the officers of infantry, artillery and armoured regiments have been the head of the Indian Army with 13 lakh personnel. Lt Gen Manoj Pandey is currently the deputy chief of the Army Staff and his appointment as the Army Chief was announced on April 18. LG Manoj Pandey is going to take his place after General MM Naravane retires today on April 30 (Saturday). Manoj Pandey was heading the Eastern Command of the Army before becoming the Deputy Chief of the Army On February 1 this year.

Not only this, but this command has the responsibility of protecting the Line of Actual Control in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors. Lt Gen Pandey is taking over the command of the Indian Army at a time when the government is focusing on the integration of the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) to effectively deal with a number of security challenges. LG Pandey has also served as the head of Andaman and Nicobar Command during his career.

Manoj Pandey is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was appointed to the Corps of Engineers (The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982. Yes, and he served in many important positions in his illustrious career and also participated in counter-terrorism operations in many areas. Yes, and he has the experience of commanding an Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control during 'Operation Parakram' in Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time, he has also commanded a mountain division in the high altitude areas of western Ladakh and a corps in the Northeast.

Not only that, but he has also served as chief engineer at the UN missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Manoj Pandey has also served as additional director general in the Directorate of Military Operations at the Army Headquarters and as the Chief of Staff at the Southern Command headquarters. Not only this, LG Manoj Pandey has been awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal and a citation from the army chief for his outstanding service in the army.

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