Lieutenant General Manoj Pande will take charge as the 29th chief of the Army Staff in India. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Pande has a military career spanning nearly 40 years. He has commanded an engineer brigade along the LoC in J&K during Operation Parakram (during the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff).