General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Bikram Singh, (born 19 July 1952) is a retired Indian army officer who served as the 24th Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the
Indian Army
The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
. Previously the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the army's Eastern Command, he succeeded General V. K. Singh as COAS on May 31, 2012. He retired on 31 July 2014. He is the second
Sikh
Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
to be COAS, the first having been General J. J. Singh. He was also the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) of the Indian armed forces.
Military career
Born at Amritsar, he spent his early childhood with his family at Jammu. In 1962, he joined the Punjab Public School, Nabha. The future chief had considered becoming a doctor as he was an exceptional student of Zoology and Biology. But the wars of 1962 and 1965 motivated him to join the NDA in 1968. When asked whether he ever regrets the choice made, Bikram said, "If I were ever to be born again, I would only join the Indian Army."
A graduate of the 40th course at the National Defence Academy, Singh was commissioned into the
Sikh Light Infantry
The Sikh Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army.
He is also a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Higher Command Course at Army War College, Mhow and US Army War College, Pennsylvania, USA, where he also won the ‘Annual Public Speaking Award’. Later in December 2013, he was inducted into the US Army War College ‘International Fellows Hall of Fame’. On 18 October 2013, he was awarded ‘The Legion of Merit’ by the United States government for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.
The General’s Academic Qualifications include MSc (Defence Studies) from Madras University in 1986, M Phil (Defence & Management Studies) from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore in 1997 and Master of Strategic Studies from US Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA in 2004. In addition, the General was conferred with two Honorary Degrees of ‘Doctorate of Science’ by SGGS World University, Punjab in 2016 by the Chief Minister of Punjab and GNDU, Amritsar on 31 May 2018 by the Union HRD Minister Sh. Prakash Javadekar.
Gen Bikram Singh has served in three UN missions in Nicaragua (
ONUCA
ONUCA was a United Nations peacekeeping mission deployed in Central America in 1990 and 1991.
ONUCA
The United Nations Security Council formally created ONUCA ("United Nations Observer Group in Central America") when it approved Resolution 6 ...
), El Salvador ( ONUSAL) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). While in the first two missions he was the Chief operations Officer, in MONUC, he was the General Officer Commanding of a Multinational Division in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His Division contributed immensely in the initiation of ‘Goma Peace Process’. During his tenure in Congo, the former Chief of Army Staff of the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...
Qamar Javed Bajwa served under his command as a brigade commander.
He has been the President of Indian Golf Union from 2012 to 2013 and the President of Indian Polo Association from June 2012 to 31 July 2014.
After completing the Higher Command Course, he served his first tenure as a Director in the Military Operations (MO) Directorate. The tenure coincided with the Kargil War and he was the official spokesperson of the Army during that period. He went on to serve four important tenures at Army HQ: an additional tenure in the MO Directorate as the Deputy Director General, two tenures in the Perspective Planning Directorate, as the Deputy Director General of Perspective Planning (Strategy) and later, as the Additional Director General. He was posted back to the Army HQ as a Lieutenant General to serve as the Director General Staff Duties before taking over as Eastern Army Commander. Colleagues remember him for being a 'soldier's soldier' for spending time and working hard with his troops on the ground.
He has held positions of General Officer-Commanding-in-ChiefEastern Command, XV Corps, GOC 10th Infantry Division, Commander of Rashtriya Rifles Sector and GOC of the Multi-National Eastern Division in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
. He was wounded while posted as a
Brigadier
Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...
Bikram Singh retired as Chief of Army Staff on 31 July 2014. He was succeeded by
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...