Lt Gen Manoj Pande to take over as the chief of Indian Army’s Eastern Command tomorrow, succeeding Lt Gen Anil Chauhan.
Lt Gen Pande is presently heading the only operational tri-services formation Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair.
The Eastern Command is one of the six operational commands of the Indian Army. It is headquartered in Fort William in the city of kolkata in the state of West Bengal.
In 1982, Lt Gen Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy.
He commanded an Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir, an Engineer Brigade as part of the Strike Corps, an Infantry Brigade along the Line of Control, a Mountain Division in High Altitude Area of Western Ladakh and a Corps deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as also in Counter Insurgency Operations area in the North East.
Early life:
Pande was born to Dr. C G Pande, a consulting Psychotherapist who retired as the Head of the Department of Psychology of the Nagpur University, and Prema, an announcer and host with the All India Radio.
The family hails from Nagpur. After his schooling, he joined the National Defence Academy (NDA). After NDA, he joined the Indian Military Academy and was commissioned as an officer.
Part of operations:
During his 37 years of distinguished service, the General Officer has taken active part in Operation Vijay and Parakram.
Honours:
He is a recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Vishisht Seva Medal. Apart from these, he has been awarded the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Commendation Card and two GOC-in-C commendation cards.
