Lt Gen MM Naravane to Replace Bipin Rawat As Next Army Chief

Lt General Naravane has been serving as the Vice Chief Army Staff, before which he was heading the Eastern Command.

(Photo: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane will be replacing General Bipin Rawat the as the next Chief of Army Staff, media reports indicated on Monday, 16 December.

Naravane's appointment has been cleared at the highest level and the government has followed the principle of seniority in the appointment, sources told PTI.

Lt General Naravane has been serving as the Vice Chief Army Staff, before which he was heading the Eastern Command of the Army, which takes care of India's nearly 4,000-km border with China.

General Rawat is due to retire on 31 December after a three-year stint and is expected to be appointed as the first Chief of Defence Staff, overseeing the three armed forces.

In his 37 years of service, Lt General Naravane has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, reported PTI.

He commanded a Rashtriya Rifles Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir and an infantry brigade on the eastern front. He was also part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and had served as India's defence attache at the Indian Embassy in Myanmar for three years.

Lt Gen Naravane, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, was commissioned into the 7th battalion, the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

(With inputs from PTI.)