Dalbir Singh Suhag

General Dalbir Singh Suhag, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC is the 26th Chief of the Army Staff (India) who took oath of the office on 31 July 2014 following the retirement of General Bikram Singh.

Early life
General Singh is a third generation soldier and was born in a Jat family based in Bishan village in Haryana's Jhajjar district to Smt. Ishari Devi and Havaldar Major Ramphal Singh of 18th Cavalry Regiment. He is married to Namita Suhag, who is a Political Science graduate from Delhi University.

Military career
General Dalbir Singh Suhag joined the National Defence Academy in 1970 and was commissioned into the 4th battalion of the 5 Gorkha Rifles in June 1974. He is an alumnus of Sainik School, Chittorgarh. He was an instructor at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and served as a company commander during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka.He has commanded 33 Rashtriya Rifles at North East Region of India. He has commanded the 53 Infantry Brigade which was involved in counter insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley from July 2003 to March 2005, and the 8 Mountain Division in Kargil from October 2007 to December 2008. He was also appointed as the Inspector General of the Special Frontier Force. He has completed various Indian and foreign courses including LDMC at College of Defence Management in 1997-98, National Defence College in 2006, Executive Course in USA in 2005 and Senior Mission Leaders Course (UN) in Kenya in 2007.

He had commanded the army's III Corps in Dimapur. In 2012, he was put under a 'Discipline and Vigilance' ban by the then outgoing Army Chief Gen. V K Singh for a failed intelligence operation in Jorhat in Assam which happened during Lt. Gen. Suhag's tenure as the 3 Corps commander. The DV ban was subsequently revoked by the next army chief General Bikram Singh with the concurrence of the defence minister AK Antony's, and he was promoted to become the commander of the Eastern Command on 16 June 2012. He then replaced Lieutenant General S. K. Singh as the Vice Chief of Army staff on 31 December 2013.

On 7 July 2014, Supreme Court of India, country's apex court, refused to stay or stall Lt. Gen. Suhag's appointment as next Army Chief, in response to a petition filed by Lt. Gen. Ravi Dastane challenging his appointment as Army Commander of Eastern Command. The Bench observed that there is no reason & urgency to stay the appointment & that the petition pertained to Lt. Gen. Suhag's appointment as army commander and hence issues relating to appointment of army chief did not have to be dealt with at this stage. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi representing National Democratic Alliance (India) led government at center, also justified the appointment, saying there is nothing in the allegations levelled and Lt. Gen. Suhag fulfils all the criteria for the post including being senior-most in the seniority list. He also said that the ban imposed on Lt. Gen. Suhag in 2012 was lifted and he was discharged from all charges. Earlier on 10 June 2014, center govt. had told Supreme Court that the alleged lapses which were made as grounds to impose disciplinary ban on Army Vice Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag by then Army Chief V K Singh, were "premeditated", "vague" and "illegal".

He will serve as the army chief for a tenure of two years and five months till December 31, 2016. He will be the second officer from the Gorkha Rifles to become the Army chief, after the late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

His personal hobbies include daily 10 km runs, horse-riding and golf.