Northern Army Commander Lt.General Upendra Dwivedi will take over as the Vice-Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) on February 19.
Current Army Chief General Manoj Pande is set to retire from service on May 31 when Lt. Gen. Dwivedi will be the senior most officer in service and in line to become the next Chief based on seniority.
Lt. General Upendra Dwivedi, an alumnus of Sainik School, Rewa (MP) was commissioned into the 18 JAK RIF on 15 Dec 1984, which he later commanded in the Kashmir valley and the deserts of Rajasthan. He is the recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and three GOC-in-C Commendation cards. General officer has had a unique distinction of balanced exposure of both Northern and Western Theatre. He has also been IGAR (GOC) and Sector Cdr Assam Rifles in intense CT Ops and held various other Staff and Command appointments in North East.
Who is Lt.General Upendra Dwivedi?
The Officer during his illustrious career spanning across 39 years, has tenanted various staff appointments in Headquarter Armoured Brigade, Mountain Division, Strike Corps and Integrated HQ (Army). As instructor at Indian Military Academy and Army War College (Higher Command), he shaped the future generations of tri-services and Friendly Foreign Countries. Appointment of DG Infantry empowered him to steer and fast-track Capital procurement cases of weapons for all the three services, leading to significant and visible capability enhancement for our Armed Forces. As Dy Chief (IS&C), officer gave impetus towards automation and absorption of niche tech in the Indian Army. Being a tech enthusiast, he worked towards enhancing the tech threshold of all ranks in Northern Command and pushed for Critical & EmergingTechs like Big Data Analytics, AI, Quantum and Blockchainbased solutions.
Overseas tenure
The officer's two overseas tenures include Somalia, as part of HQ UNOSOM II and Seychelles as Military Advisor to the Govt of Seychelles. Besides, attending Staff College, Wellington & Higher Command Course at AWC, Mhow, the officer was conferred ‘Distinguished Fellow' in the coveted NDC equivalent course at USAWC, Carlisle, USA. Complementing his illustrious military career, are an M Philin Defence & Management Studies, in addition to the two Master's Degree in Strategic Studies and Military Scienceincluding one from USAWC, USA. The officer has also authored / presented articles in various professional forums / Journals. He has pioneered the first ever compendium on Indo – Myanmar Border Management. General officer is a skilled Yoga practitioner.
All three service Chiefs will retire this year which will see a change of guard at the top. The first to retire would be Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar on April 30, followed by the Army Chief on May 31 and the Air Chief later.
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