General Upendra Dwivedi — the officer who led a critical modernisation programme in the Northern Command amid a tense border stand-off with China — assumed command of the Indian Army Sunday.
Before taking over from General Manoj Pande, he was the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) from February this year and the natural contender for the top position.
Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, Dwivedi studied at Sainik School Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, and joined the prestigious National Defence Academy (NDA) in January 1981. Incidentally, Dwivedi and current Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Tripathi were classmates in school.
On 15 December 1984, General Dwivedi was commissioned into the 18th Battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, which he later commanded in the Kashmir valley and the deserts of Rajasthan.
He has the distinction of exposure along the northern, western and eastern theatres, in varied terrain and operational environments, including deserts, high altitude, riverine and built-up areas, the North East and Jammu and Kashmir.
He commanded his battalion in counter-terrorist operations in the Kashmir valley and the Rajasthan deserts.
He has been Inspectorate General Assam Rifles general officer commanding-in-chief and sector commander of the Assam Rifles in intense counter-terrorism operations and held various other staff & command appointments in the North East, where he pioneered the first-ever compendium on Indo-Myanmar border management.
He also commanded Rising Star Corps along the western front and the prestigious Northern Army from 2022-2024.
He was responsible for guidance and operational oversight for the planning, as well as execution, of sustained operations along the northern and western borders, besides the dynamic counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Interested in technology, he was also involved in modernising and equipping the largest command of the Indian Army, steering the induction of indigenous equipment as part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
He has varied staff exposures, which include handling conventional operations of the Armoured Brigade in the Punjab plains, providing logistical support to a Mountain Division in the North East along the northern borders and operations of a Strike Corps in the deserts.
At Army headquarters, the officer contributed significantly to the military secretary’s branch, raising a section in the military operations directorate.
Later, as infantry director general, he steered and fast-tracked capital procurement cases of weapons for all three services.
Speaking about his personal life, sources who are close to Dwivedi said that from his school days, he was an outstanding sportsman and excelled in both the NDA and the Indian Military Academy (IMA), where he was awarded a blue strap in physical training.
He continued to excel post-commissioning when he was awarded a gold medal in physical training.
He had two overseas tenures — in Somalia as part of HQ UNOSOM II, i.e., the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia, and in Seychelles as the military adviser to the Seychelles government.
