Army Chief-designate Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat, whose selection has come under intense criticism from various quarters, will have one of the longest tenures at the helm, hanging up his boots only by the end of 2019. He will take charge of the 1.2 million force on January 1, 2017.
A service chief has a tenure of either three years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
Lt. Gen. Rawat will be the second successive chief from the Gorkha Rifles after Gen. Dalbir Singh. He was commissioned into the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1978 from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour.’ Gen. Singh was commissioned into the 4/5 Gorkha Rifles.
Lt. Gen. Rawat hails from the Saina village in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. He is the son of the former Vice-Chief of Army, Lt. Gen. Lakshman Singh Rawat. He is currently serving as the Vice-Chief in the Army headquarters.
He served as a Brigade Commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) in 2008 and received laurels for the conduct of the operations. He was twice awarded the Force Commander’s Commendation in the UN missions.
Once Lt. Gen. Rawat takes charge in January, the Army Chiefs of India and Pakistan will have an interesting connect. Both have served as Brigade Commanders in the UN mission in Congo under the command of former Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh when he was a Major General, though at different points in time. Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa commanded the South Kivu brigade in 2007, while Lt. Gen. Rawat commanded the North Kivu Brigade a year later.
Lt. Gen. Rawat has also served under Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, who was widely tipped to be the next Chief.
