Lt Gen M M Naravane Set To Be Next Chief Of Army Staff After Gen Bipin Rawat Retires This Month

As the incumbent Chief of Army Staff General (Gen) Bipin Rawat is set to retire on 31 December, he will be succeeded by the current Vice Chief of the force, Lieutenant (Lt) Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane, reports Livemint.

The senior-most Army officer after Gen Rawat, Naravane was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

He has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter-insurgency environments in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast in his 37 years of service.

A part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, he has also commanded a Rashtriya Rifles Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir and was awarded the Sena Medal (Distinguished Service).

Naravane had also served as defence attache at the Indian Embassy in Myanmar for three years.

He had assumed charge as Vice Chief of the 1.3 million-strong army on 1 September. Prior to this, Naravane was heading the Army's Eastern Command.

(With inputs from IANS)