Lt Gen Bipin Rawat New Army Chief, Air Marshal BS Dhanoa IAF Head

New Delhi: The government appointed two new service chiefs on Saturday, tapping in Lt Gen Bipin Rawat as the next Army chief and Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa as the new Air Force chief.

Lt Gen Rawat, whose appointment brought to an end the guessing game borne out of the government’s delay in announcing the new Army chief, was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the Eleven Gorkha Rifles in December 1978, from IMA Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’.

Lt Gen Rawat has held important staff appointments at Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO) and Military Secretary’s Branch at Army HQ.

He has also been Major General General Staff at HQ Eastern Command. The officer commanded a Multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).

It has been a convention that the new Army chief is announced 60 days before the incumbent retires. This allows the chief-in-waiting the time to familiarise himself with the office of the Army chief and daily chorus attached to it. However, with just 13 days to go before Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag retires, Lt Gen Rawat is left with much less time to get acquainted functional procedures within Army Chief’s office at the South Block.

Lt Gen Rawat superseded senior most army commander Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, who headed the Eastern Command and was next in line to be the army chief, besides Southern Command Chief PM Hariz. Supersesion in the army is not new though there has not been any such instances in the recent past. In 1983, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had appointed Lt Gen AS Vaidya as army chief superseding Lt Gen SK Sinha, who resigned in protest.KARGIL VETERAN TO LEAD AIR FORCE

Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa is a Kargil war veteran and first-rate fighter pilot.

Dhanoa, 59, is expected to have tenure of about three years as the Chief of Air Staff.

Born in Punjab’s SAS Nagar, Mohali district, Air Marshal Dhanoa comes from a family of war veterans. His grandfather Capt Sant Singh was with the British Indian Army and fought in the World War II against the Japanese. His father, Sarayan Singh, served as the Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab during the 1980s and later served as advisor to the state governor.

Prior to moving in as Vice-Chief, he was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command.

He has distinguishably served various important operation appointments including Chief Instructor (Air) at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) at Air Headquarters and Senior Air Staff Officer of two operational Commands.

He was awarded Yudh Seva Medal (YSM), Vayusena Medal (VM) in 1999, and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2015.