Do You Know About The Next Indian Army Chief

According to the media and other sources reports published in newspapers. The vetting process for selection of the next Army Chief has begun, there is a list of five top officers being considered as there is the retirement of incumbent General Bipin Rawat at the end of the year. General Bipin Rawat has commanded many great operations in his tenure.

The government is facing a tough choice for the selection process where the old method of seniority is no longer applies. According to the sources at the top of the list are the Northern and Eastern Army commanders as both of whom have great operational command and also have a good track record into anti-insurgency operations. Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, who is currently the Eastern Army Commander, would be the senior most officer of the Indian Army after General Rawat retires in December. He is from Sikh Light Infantry and this Sikh Light Infantry officer has commanded a Rashtriya Rifles battalion in Kashmir, has served in the Assam Rifles and has been posted as the defence attache to Myanmar.

During his posting as the head of the Army’s Training Command in December 2017. In September 2018, a game of musical chairs was played with the top brass of the Army that saw him shifted to the operationally sensitive Eastern Command that has delivered several Army Chiefs in the past.

The second Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, who had become the face of the surgical strikes when he announced operations along Myanmar and in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), also has an enviable career record. The government broke from tradition by choosing him as the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) in 2016 despite him being approved to command a Corps level formation.

The officer belongs to the Dogra regiment and was a Major General in the military operations department when surgical strikes were planned in 2015 and had personally briefed the top leadership of the country on the planned operations as well as the post action report. While the selection process will look into the service record of both officers, there’s also speculation that the much-delayed restructuring of the top military brass may also be in the coming months.