New Army Chief faces the challenge of closing fissures in top echelons
General Bikram Singh, a veteran infantry officer, who took over as the 25th chief of the Indian Army on Thursday, has to grapple with the challenge of closing the fissures in the top echelons of the world's second largest force.
He succeeds General V.K. Singh, whose 26-month tenure was marred by a slew of controversies, including an unseemly row over his date of birth.
General Bikram Singh, 59, who earlier served as commander of the Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command, will have a tenure of two years and three months.
Describing the tasks ahead of General Bikram Singh as “very challenging,” defence and strategic affairs analyst C. Uday Bhaskar told The Hindu that the new Army Chief would need the support of all to provide the healing touch and close the fissures that had arisen of late in the top echelons. “He faces a very challenging task, and perhaps he will feel somewhat handicapped because his tenure begins against the backdrop of a divisive and turbulent period.”
Mr. Uday Bhaskar said General Bikram Singh would also need to devote considerable time and energy to the modernisation of the Army to keep it “agile and fighting fit.” General V.K. Singh's tenure was a “combination of controversy and courage,” as he had started improving the health of the Army, but got bogged down in the age row and other controversies.
General Bikram Singh has played a key role in counter-insurgency as Corps Commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and the Akhnoor-based 10 Division as Major General. “Bikki” to his friends, he was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry Regiment on March 31, 1972, after he attended the Indian Military Academy. He was awarded the ‘Commando Dagger' and the ‘Best in Tactics' trophy during his young officers' course at the Infantry School, Belgaum, where he later served as instructor in the Commando Wing.
During the Kargil conflict, he served in the Military Operations Directorate and was fielded to brief the media on the operations.
As brigadier, he attended the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania and served the United Nations in Central America on two assignments.
Earlier, the outgoing Army Chief said the internal health of the 1.13-million-strong force had improved during his tenure.
Interacting with journalists after inspecting a farewell guard of honour, General V.K. Singh, 62, brushed aside controversies that broke out during his tenure. If “we pay too much attention to certain things, they become controversial.”
Asked about his major achievements, General Singh said: “What we have been able to achieve is changing of the mindset in the Army. We have been able to take the path of transformation, which includes making the Army ready, relevant, agile and much more effective. Leaner in terms of how it takes its decisions [and that] is already in the pipeline.”
He said: “We have been able to ensure that the hollowness affecting the Army was addressed in a very cogent manner, and we had the support of the Defence Minister [A.K. Antony].”
Keywords: General Bikram Singh, new Army Chief, V.K. Singh
Congratulations to you chief and hope you will have the courage to take some action for the pending matters of soldiers for example the OROP and parity issues.
Battle of Naushera-3
Hari Singh Nalwa pressed on his cavalry deploying Guerilla
tactics of attack and retreat of one wave while other attacked
and retreated.
Raising war cries of Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal from time to
time, Hari Singh Nalwa and his disciplined soldiers emptied their
muskets on Jihadis. A wave of about 50 soldiers on their horses
would charge at Jihadis, firing their muskets and then sending
more to meet their creator through their bayonets as they gallop
across the battlefield.
Hari Singh Nalwa and Akali Phula Singh with their cavalry
regiment of Sher-Dil-Rajman and Nihangs as Khushwant Singh
succinctly puts it gave them "coup de grace." They drove the
Khattaks and Yusufzais from Pir Sabak Hill.
Heavy artillery on the landsurrounded the Jihadis and opened up a
barrage to complete the slaughter. While Hari Singh was leading
his Sher-Dil-Rajman attacking Jihadis from one end, from other
side Akali Phula Singh and his Cavalry of Nihangs, or the
"Crocodile Sikhs who
Battle of Naushera-2
Crossing the attock river
These advance columns of Lahore Durbar reached attock river a
month ahead of other forces. They crossed the attock river using
a pontoon bridge and occupied the Sikh
fort of Jehangiria. Mohammed Azim and his Afghani Jihadis soon
surrounded the fort of Jehangiria. Other men helping Mohammed
Azim to lead their 45,000 forces of Mujahdeen were his brothers,
Dost Mohammed (who had more than once paid tribute to Lahore),
Sayyid Akbar Shah and Jabbar Khan, the ex-governor of Kashmir.
They destroyed thepontoon bridge over rive Attock so that
Lahore's forces could not cross and started pounding the fort
with their guns.
Hari Singh Nalwa and Prince Sher Singh with much grit and
determination held the fort with their total of less then 10,000
men. Since this fort was right on the banks of a river, there was
no shortage of water or other supplies. Hari Singh Nalwa lead his
cavalry in numerous sorties outside fort destroying two of the
invaluable
Battle of Naushera-1
Durani who defeated Marathas in Battle of Panipat in 1761 were
defeated by Sikhs in 1822
In December 1822 orders were given to march out of Lahore and
Prince Sher Singh, younger son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh lead the
march with his battalions of Cavalry and Infantry. Hari Singh
Nalwa whose Sher-e-Dil Rajaman battalion was replenished by
additional soldiers making it the largest Cavalry regiment of
about 5000 men and horses in the Lahore Darbar's army was closely
following Prince Sher Singh.
appointing bikram singh as a army chief is nt good decision ,bikram singh has been facing many allegation some of them related with fake encounter of innocent people (comes frm minority group).many top official of india has insisted to govt for not appointing of gn bikram singh .its avery responsible post nd it should be filled by a person who has stucked at any such controversy
As we congratulate Gen Bikram Singh as he takes over this meritorious second largest force in the world, we also certainly hope that he will take forward the cause of better internal health of the Army..the very cause which Gen V.K.Singh initiated..along with reviving a better defence-civil relationship...!
ok. General now over to you to show what you can do. Is Indian army
really unprepared to defend nation? I believe it to be the case. The
army has become fat and lazy and corrupt. The officers are more
interested in lining their pockets and getting benefits from the canteen
than in fighting. Do something. Otherwise your promotion would have
been a waste.
Will Gen. Bikram Singh provide healing touch to Maj-Gen Ravi Arora who was in same class as Gen Bikram Singh but was his senior and gold medalist and whose promotion was held up for just enough time to make him a year junior to Gen. Bikram Singh and thus lose out on becoming the COAS?
One of the smartest-looking Generals in the world: Betraying his age by about one & half decades, in totality ! General Bikram Singh, the highly decorated CoAS of the Indian Army has had the good grooming & a disciplined upbringing from his father, himself as an Ex serviceman. The General had to overcome numerous unexpected hurdles,obstacles,stonewalls,blockades,barriers,barricades et al ,in order to achieve the highest position as on today:'cose of unfortunate ongoing administrative jousting & jingoism.It is,therefore, sincerely hoped that he will doubly ensure to start with a clean slate, forgetting & even forgiving any offensive before he could don the General's uniform No sermons to the General,still he is expected to iron out any difference ,real assertive ,commandeering the rank & file clearly of the known or unknown undesirable gossip & as a father-figure under his ever expanding Service Umbrella ,providing the seaside cool breeze & required fortitude to all & sundry. Once again ,'Wishing him all the very best as CoAS & even earn the '5th Star',after his honourable retirement ! BikkI the Lucky !
congtatulations to the new chief. we hope that he will lead the force well and put an end to all sorts of controversies surrounding the forces at present.he takes on a very big responsibility and we wish him all the luck. RAB RAKHA.
All hail the new Chief, wishing the General a successful tenure to lead
our Armed Forces. Please clean the systemic corruption imbibed in the
Armed Forces and restore the shine and glory that the institution truly
deserves.
Good luck to you, General. Make a positive difference. Don't just
treat this as an opportunity to be the boss of the whole army and get
everyone to salute you at every turn (as you army types like to do).
Set things right in the army in a positive, quiet, dignified way and
don't look for media attention. There is a lot that is wrong in the
army, as much as is wrong in our political life, only we don't hear
about it due to a lot of secrecy. If all the rot came out it would
destabilize our country. Now you go and do a good job and start the
big job of clean-up. Blessings to you, you true Singh of India.
Gen. Bikram Singh - Don't worry about dignified conduct and or blow with the wind. Dignified conduct is a code word used to signal obedience to IAS/IPS babus in MoD and politicians who make no sacrifice but get paid more than the military.
Carry the torch lit by Gen VK Singh.
Sir, Heartiest Congratulations and I wish that Indian Army will progress Day and Night under your prestigious and worthy Command with a vast experience in all fields.
Let us hope that Gen.Bikram singh would plug all the loop holes that
have been exposed recently and make the Indian army corrupt free, trim
and one of the finest professional fighting forces in Asia.
General Bikram Singh is taking over as Chief at a
turning point in the Army's relationship with the civilian government.
Not only has he the task of blazing new trails but he has also to
remove the bad tasteleft in the mouth as a result of the bickering
legacy left behind by his predecessor.
We wish him good luck and Godspeed.
Congratulations and Wishing you all the success. Thanks for serving our country.
welcome the army chief and wish him all success in these turbulent
times. ignore comments from persons like radhakrishna kumar.
I hope he will rely own "Hearts and Minds", rather than repressive
anti-citizen laws like AFSPA which seems to be applied discriminately,
in his operational policies, instructions and conduct. Laws like AFSPA
turns free citizens into captive ones and is very much the cause for
the alienation and for the demands for separation.
May he also not serve corporate interest be it from within and
without.
The people and their well-being is paramount. No amount of medals,
prestigious citations and commendations will compensate the betrayal
of the people.
Conratulation Sir, this is your capability & honesty that bring you on this top most post. we are very -2 happy , however you have taken the charge as army chief but still we feel is it a dreem! , we pray the god to give you stregth for makinhg our army no 1 in the word.
Agian we wish you all the best for this new assignment.
So JJ Singh(COAS in 2006) plan of Operation moss finally worked to plan up the entire succession plan in line with the commission and kickbacks to arm's lobbyist.. VK Singh's tenure was cut short to benefit arm's supplier and corrupt babus of Governments... God help our Army..
Correction - Shrinagesh Trophy has been wrongly stated as Shriganesh Trophy. Gen S.M.Shrinagesh was the Chief of Army Staff from 15 May 1955 to 15 May 1957.
The article states, " At the IMA, he held the appointment of battalion cadet adjutant and was awarded the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles gold medal for 'tactics and leadership' and the Shriganesh Trophy." I wonder if it should be 'Shrinagesh Trophy' after the former Chief of the Army Staff.
welcom sir for your appointment of army cheif of our great Indian Army and I wish you all the success in your life.I am an ex-service man's son and working in kuwait,sir do hard work for making our army in world no 1 and free from controversies.
Wish u all the best General
@Radha Krishna Kumar I can understand your feelings against corruption but it is wrong to judge the person beforehand. We seek improvement from our new General and hope that he will not let you down in all aspects. Our president is not an officer that's why he becomes blind when it comes to corruption, I don't think that, that will be repeated by this General, instead he will root out the corruption.
While we congratulate and welcome Gen Bikram Singh as the Chief of the Indian Army,we expect that he would not only safe guard the country from the enemies but also save the honour of the nation with his dignified conduct.As honesty has become the rarest commodity in our country and corruption has also allegedly crept into the defence area as witnessed by us in the past few months,Bikram will have to be above board and prove his mettle.
India comes among top five corrupt countries among the comity of
nations. Corruption is rule and honesty is the exception in India.
Right from very beginning the skeletons of corruption are buried by
the ruling elites. Corruption suits to the ruling elites because their
edifice is built on corruption. Usually corrupt persons are brought on
the high posts but sometimes so-called honest persons are also brought
on the high post who doesn’t dare to raise finger on corruption. Such
honest person turns blind eye to the corruption, for example our
present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is considered to be honest
but turns blind eye to the corruption around him. Unpredictably some
honest persons come in power who stirs up the hornet net of corruption
but such persons receive much wrath of the government, for example
General V.K Singh & CAG shri Vinod Rai.
India comes among top five corruption countries among the comity of
nations. Corruption is rule and honesty is the exception in India.
Right from very beginning the skeletons of corruption are buried by
the ruling elites. Corruption suits to the ruling elites because their
edifice is built on corruption. Usually corrupt persons are brought on
the high posts but sometimes so-called honest persons are also brought
on the high post who doesn’t dare to raise finger on corruption. Such
honest person turns blind eye to the corruption, for example our
present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is considered to be honest
but turns blind eye to the corruption around him. Unpredictably some
honest persons come in power who stirs up the hornet net of corruption
but such persons receive much wrath of the government, for example
General V.K Singh & CAG shri Vinod Rai.
Welcome Tiger of India. You have great responsibilities. India is surrounded by enemies from outside and enemies inside in the from of deshdrohis who care more for religion than the nation. Sikhs are the Shan of India. God bless India. Jai Bharat.
WELCOME GENERAL.
WISH YOU A VERY SUCCESSFUL TENURE AS THE C.o.A.S .Your Experience
and Meritorious Service Background in India and foreign countries
would help you in mOdernising the Great Indian Army to face the challenges of the years ahead.
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