Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 17

When Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane of the Sikh Light Infantry takes over as Chief of the Army Staff from incumbent Gen Bipin Rawat on December 31, it will be only the second in the history of the armed forces that the chiefs of all three services are from the same course of the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Kharakvasla.

Admiral Karambir Singh, who took over as the Chief of Navy Staff when Admiral Sunil Lanba retired on May 30, 2019, and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, who took over from Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on September 30 this year, are from the 56th course at the NDA. So is Lt Gen Naravane, presently serving as Vice Chief of the Army Staff. In another coincidence, all three happen to be sons of Air Force officers.

The other instance of all three chiefs being from the same course was in the early 1990s when Gen Sunith Francis Rodrigues, Admiral Laxmi Narayan Ramdas and Air Chief Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri were heading their respective services. All three were from the first course at NDA. This course also produced three Maha Vir Chakra recipients during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

The NDA is a tri-service training institution that undertakes a three-year training regimen for cadets who join the academy after 10+2 and complete their graduation alongside training before proceeding for pre-commission training at respective service academies.