Lt Gen Manoj Naravane to succeed Gen Bipin Rawat as next army chief – india news

Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane will take over as the next chief of army staff (COAS) when General Bipin Rawat’s term ends on December 31, two senior officers said on the condition of anonymity Monday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has cleared Naravane’s appointment as army chief, said the first officer. The government, however, did not make any official announcement.

There has been no announcement so far on India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) that was expected this month along with the appointment of the new army chief. The CDS will have powers to direct the three service chiefs and to create new theatre commands for an optimal military response in case of hostilities.

The government has gone by seniority in picking General Naravane as the next chief. He will be the senior most officer on the day Rawat completes his tenure as army chief. General Naravane is currently the army’s vice chief. Before taking over as vice chief on August 31, he was heading the operationally critical Eastern Command, which is responsible for guarding India’s border with China in the eastern sector.

He has also headed the Shimla-based Army Training Command, which is responsible for drafting and disseminating concepts and doctrines related to strategy, operational art, tactics, logistics, training and human resource development.

Born on April 22, 1960, he will serve as the army chief for two years and four months. Service chiefs can serve a maximum tenure of three years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier.

The second officer said Naravane would bring vast military experience to the table as he is a counter-insurgency expert in both Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India. The soft-spoken general is also considered to be a China expert, he added.

Former army vice chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba said, “The government has set a precedent of nominating the chiefs from a panel of top officers. This time it has gone by seniority. It’s the government’s prerogative to appoint service chiefs.”

While the seniority principle is usually followed when a new service chief is named, there have been instances when the government has overlooked it. When General Bipin Rawat was named army chief in December 2016, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government ignored the seniority principle and superseded two lieutenant generals who were senior to him.

Also, navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh superseded a senior officer to take charge of the top post from Admiral Sunil Lanba on May 31.

General Naravane will take over as the army chief at a time when the biggest exercise in independent India’s history to restructure the force is underway. The restructuring seeks to change the direction of the 1.2 million-strong force and transform it into a deadlier fighting machine prepared for future wars. Another challenge that he will face in his new job is to ensure that the army gets enough money to power its modernisation efforts.

He was commissioned into the 7th battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, General Naravane was part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and has also served as India’s defence attache to Myanmar. He is married to Veena Naravane and the couple has two daughters.