Lieutenant General Manoj Pande has become the first engineer to be appoited as the new Army chief. Pande will take over from Gen. M.M. Naravane, who is set to retire by the end of this month.An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982. Lt General Manoj Pande commanded an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
Operation Parakram, the large-scale mobilisation of troops and weapons to the western border, followed the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.In his 39-year military career, Lt General Pande has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, an infantry brigade along LoC, a mountain division in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the northeast. He was the commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command before he took charge of the Eastern Command.