, Naravane (left),
Karambir Singh and
R. K. S. Bhadauria in 2020 Gen Naravane was commissioned into 7th battalion
The Sikh Light Infantry in June 1980. He has commanded the 2nd
Battalion (
SikhLi) of
Rashtriya Rifles in
Jammu and Kashmir as well as the 106 Infantry brigade. He has also commanded the
Assam Rifles as Inspector General (North) in
Kohima,
Nagaland. He has served in
Counter-insurgency operations in
Jammu and Kashmir and
Northeast India, as well as the
Indian Peace Keeping Force in
Sri Lanka during
Operation Pawan. The general officer's staff assignments include tenures as a
brigade major of an Infantry Brigade, Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (AA&QMG) of Headquarters Establishment No. 22. He has also served as the
Military attaché to
Myanmar at
Yangon. In addition, he served in an instructional appointment at the
Army War College,
Mhow as Directing Staff in the Higher Command Wing and two tenures at the
Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters of
Ministry of Defence,
New Delhi. in 2019.
General Manoj Pande, who succeeded Naravane as
Chief of Army Staff, is also seen (front, right). On promotion to the rank of
Lieutenant general, he commanded the
Ambala-based
Kharga Strike Corps and served as the
general officer commanding (GOC) Delhi Area. As GOC Delhi Area, he commanded the 2017
Republic Day Parade. After being promoted to Army Commander grade, Gen Naravane served as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief
Army Training Command from 1 December 2017 to 30 September 2018. Later, he also served as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief
Eastern Command from 1 October 2018 to 31 August 2019, succeeding Lt Gen
Abhay Krishna. On 1 September 2019, he took over as
Vice Chief of the Army Staff On 16 December 2019 (
Vijay Diwas) he was announced as the successor of
Rawat as
COAS on 31 December 2019. Gen Naravane is the 3rd general from the
Sikh Light Infantry to become
Chief of the Army Staff, the others were
Ved Prakash Malik the 18th COAS and
Bikram Singh the 25th COAS. == Personal life ==