Lieutenant General Raman Dhawan is the new General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Bengal Area which plays a crucial role in the state of West Bengal both during war and peace.
Incumbent Lt Gen Ashok Kumar Choudhary retired today and Dhawan will take charge from tomorrow as the second three-star ranked GOC of Bengal Area.
Dhawan was serving as Additional Director General, Discipline and Vigilance in the Adjutant General's (AG) branch and had been awarded the Vishist Seva Medal twice for his distinguished service to the nation.
With a distinguished career in both command and staff appointments, he has the distinction of commanding a brigade-sized force in Manipur involved in counter-insurgency operations and raising and commanding a division-sized force along the sensitive Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.
Besides his command appointments, the Dhawan has been a Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade, Colonel General Staff of a Counter Insurgency Force in Jammu & Kashmir and Brigadier General Staff of a corps in the western theatre.
He has also served with the United Nation mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, besides being an instructor in the Indian Military Academy and the School of Artillery.
Dhawan was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in 1977. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy and a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, he holds an MSc degree in Military Science from Madras University and an MPhil from Devi Ahilya Bai University, Indore.
He has also attended the prestigious National Defence College at New Delhi.
