Image Source PrameyaNews

Chief of the Army’s Northen Command, Lt Gen NPS Hira has been appointed as Deputy Chief of Army Staff and would assume office on March 14. Lt Gen NPS Hira is from the Sikh Light Infantry. He has commanded the Jallandhar-based 11 Corps ‘Defenders of Punjab’. He has vast experience of counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and in the North-East region, as well as conventional operations in Western Command of the Army.

He commanded Sikh Light Infantry in Assam (Op RHINO), 12 Infantry Brigade in the strategic Uri sector deployed on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and later went on to command 10 Infantry Division on the LoC. Lt General Hira is also the Colonel of the Regiment of the Sikh Light Infantry.

• Did You Know?
• The Indian Army was formed in 1776, under the government of the East India Company in Kolkata.
• The Indian Army has about 53 cantonments and 9 army bases, spread across India.
• The Siachen Glacier, 5000 metres above sea level, is the highest battlefield in the world. And the Indian Army controls it.
• The Military Engineering Services (MES) is one of the biggest construction agencies in India.
• The Indian Army has a cavalry regiment. There are only 3 such regiments in the world.
• Assam rifles, the oldest paramilitary force in India, was formed in 1835.