General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC in Chief) of Northern Command, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi has been appointed as Vice Chief of Army Staff in Delhi. Lieutenant General MV Suchindra Kumar, who was appointed to this post last year, has been appointed the commander of the Northern Command headquartered at Udhampur in place of General Dwivedi. The officer will probably assume the new position around February 15.
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi is the senior most general officer after the current Army Chief Manoj Pandey and Genral Padey is retiring on May 31, 2024. t It is believed that if the decision is taken only on the basis of seniority, then Lieutenant General Dwivedi could be the next Army Chief. The swapping of posts of two officers of Lieutenant General rank is being viewed from this perspective. However, the difference in seniority between the two officers is only a few months.
Upendra Dwivedi, an alumnus of Sainik School, Rewa and National Defence Academy (Khadakwasla) was commissioned in the 18th Battalion of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles from the Indian Military Academy (Dehradun) on 15 December 1984. He commanded a battalion in Chowkibal, a sector of the Assam Rifles in Manipur, during Operation Rhino. The general officer also served as Inspector General of Assam Rifles.
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi’s previous appointments include serving as Military Attache to the Government of Seychelles and Director General of Infantry. He was appointed the commander of the IX corps of the Indian Army in February 2020. After this, in April 2021,Lt. Gen. Upendra Dwivedi was appointed as Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Information System and Coordination).
Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi became Commander of the Northern Command in February 2022, when Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi retired from this post.
Lieutenant General Suchindra Kumar is an alumnus of Sainik School (Bijapur) and National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned in the 1st Assam Regiment in June 1985. Lt. Gen. Kumar has the experience of commanding 59 Rashtriya Rifles battalion, an infantry brigade and an infantry division on the Line of Control. Lt. Gen. Kumar has also been the Commander of the White Knight Corps which is highly active in the Northern Command.
Lieutenant General Suchindra Kumar has also done courses at Defence Services Staff College (Wellington), Higher Command Course (Mhow) and National Defence College (New Delhi). He has also attended ‘Cooperative Security in South Asia’ courses in Sri Lanka and ‘United Nations Senior Mission Leader Course’ in Egypt.
