Sarath Chand

Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, UYSM, AVSM, VSM is the current Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) of the Indian Army and assumed office on 13 January 2017. He assumed the post after General Bipin Rawat was promoted to Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

Early life and education
Chand was born in Kurumbalur, Kerala and is the son of late N. Prabhakaran Nair and G. Saradamma. He is an alumnus of Devi Vilasam Upper Primary School, Neduvathoor; Sainik school, Trivandrum; National Defence Academy, Pune and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He also attended Defence Services Staff College, Wellington; higher command course at Army War College, Mhow and a National Defence College, New Delhi.

Career
Chand was commissioned into Garhwal Rifles in June 1979. He has vast experience spanning over 38 years and has served in all operational theatres and held active combat leadership role at every stage of command. He has commanded a company in the Kargil Sector of Ladakh and another company during Operation Pawan as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. He has also commanded a battalion in Operation Rhino, targeted at infiltrators in Assam and Operation Falcon, along the Line of Actual control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh; an infantry brigade in the desert, a counter-insurgency force in the Kashmir valley, IV Corps (Tezpur) and GOC-C South Western Command (Jaipur). In addition, he has held numerous staff and instructional appointments including instructor of the commando wing in infantry school. He was also served in the United Nations mission in Somalia (UNOSOM-II).

During 38 years of his career he has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2006, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2014 and the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal in 2016.

Personal life
He is married to Bindu and they have two sons; Abhilash Chand, a major in the Indian Army Corps of Engineers and Abhijit Chand, a naval lieutenant.