Gen Bikram Singh takes over as Army Chief

59-year-old Gen Bikram Singh, who will have a term of two years and three months, took the reins of the force after the culmination of a tumultuous 26-month tenure of Gen V K Singh.

Known to his friends as 'Bikki', the new Chief has outlined his priorities as ensuring operational readiness of the army and strengthening its work culture and core values.

Gen Bikram Singh overcame a stumbling block in his ascent to the top post as a case of fake encounter was filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in which he has been given a clean chit.

He also faced the prospect of losing out in the race for the Chief's position if Gen V K Singh had succeeded in his fight to get his date of birth treated as May 10, 1951 instead of a year earlier.

A public face of the army during the 1999 Kargil conflict as a spokesperson, Gen Bikram headed the Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command prior to his new assignment. Earlier, he has held several important appointments in counter insurgency areas as the Corps Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps and Akhnoor-based 10 Division as Major General.

He was handed over the baton at South Block at a brief ceremony by Gen V K Singh, who retired after a stint mired in controversies.

In his last media interaction as Army Chief, Gen V K Singh patted his back, saying that that a number of things had been achieved during his tenure and the force's internal health was better than when he took over in March 2010. (MORE)