Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane will be the next Chief of Indian Army. 59 years old Lt. Gen Narvane will take charge of Indian Army after present chief General Bipin Singh Rawat’s term ends on the last day of 2019. Senior officers aware about the developments told to media persons on Monday here in New Delhi.
Prime Minister lead appointments committee of the Cabinet has cleared Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Narvane’s appointment as next Chief of Army Staff. Although , government has yet to announce it officially, news about his appointment is being rapidly shared by people and specially uniform community at different social media platforms.
Even former Indian Army Chief Ved Praksh Malik’s tweet endorses about the development. Without mentioning the name of Lt Gen Narvane’s , Gen Malik retweeted a tweet which says ‘ all three Chiefs of Army , Navy and Air Force on 1st January 2020 will be sons of Air Force officers commenting .’
It is being said that government may announce the Army Chief’s name along with the name of first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) which is expected in couple of days.The CDS will have power to direct all three service heads and also to create new theater commands for maximum military rsponse in case of hostility.
Lt. Gen. Manoj Mukund Narvane is presently the Indian Army’s vice chief. he took the current charge on August 31 when he was commanding Eastern Command. Born on 22 April 1960, Lt Gen Narvane will serve the Indian Army for two years and four months. According to rules, Service Chief can serve a maximum tenure of three years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
This time government has followed the precedent of selecting officer, as service chief, from the panel of senior most officers nominated for the post.Generally this precedent is being followed but instances are their when government overlooked the precedent. This happened in the case of present Army Chief General Bipin Rawat as well as while appointing naval Chief Admiral Karambeer Singh. Few senior officers were ignored in both these case during the regime NDA government.
