Lt. Gen. Joginder Jaswant Singh, a highly decorated officer with wide experience of commanding operational units in various theatres, was Saturday named the next Indian Army chief.
Singh, who will become the first Sikh to head the army, will succeed Gen. N.C. Vij when he retires Jan 31, according to an official statement.
The most senior lieutenant general in the army, Singh currently heads the Chandimandir-based Western Army Command that is responsible for guarding the frontier with Pakistan.
An alumnus of the National Defence Staff College, Singh was earlier chief of the army's training command and Additional Director General of Military Operations during the 1999 Kargil border conflict with Pakistan.
Awarded the Param Vishist Sewa Medal, the nation's highest peace-time military award for distinguished service, Singh commanded a mountain brigade in Jammu and Kashmir, a division in the western sector and one of the army's three strike corps.
He also served as defence attaché in the Indian embassy in Algeria.
--Indo-Asian News Service