TIA NEWS /
President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army upon Nepalese Army Chief General Rajendra Chettri at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh, Air Force Chief Air Marshal Arup Raha, Vice Chief of Navy Vice Admiral P Murugesan, Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar were present among others.
Since 1965, both the armies have been conferring the honorary rank of General on each other’s army chiefs in view of the close military ties shared by the two neighbours. General Chettri, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a six-day official visit, met with his Indian counterpart Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag yesterday.
He also called on Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday. This is his first visit abroad after assuming the top army post in September last year. The Nepalese Army chief’s visit comes ahead of the proposed visit of Prime Minister K P Oli to India later this month.
General Chettri has received field artillery and air defence artillery training in the early years of his service from India, Pakistan and China. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College in Ft Leavenworth in Kansas in United States. He is also a qualified Psychological Testing Officer from the Defence Institute of Psychological Research, New Delhi.