Nirmal Chander Vij
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General Nirmal Chander Vij (born January 1943, Jammu) was the 21st Indian Chief of Army Staff (31 Dec 2002 - 31 Jan 2005).
Born in January 1943 at Jammu, he completed his studies at the SRML Higher Secondary School (also in Jammu) and joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1959. He commenced his distinguished career in the Indian Army upon being commissioned into the Dogra Regiment on 11 December 1962.
Within weeks of his commissioning, he saw action in the Walong sector in the 1962 Indo-China War. Since then he has served in the eastern sector six times, a unique achievement in the Indian Army, the last time being as the General Officer Commanding of the 4 Corps. A specialist in military operations, he has served as the General Staff Officer of an Infantry Division, a Director in the Military Operations Directorate as a Colonel and Deputy Director General of Perspective Planning (Strategic Planning) as a Brigadier at Army HQ in New Delhi.
General Vij served as the Major General General Staff at the Western Command in Chandimandir, Chandigarh (Punjab) and during the 1999 Kargil Operations, he served as the Director General Military Operations. For his distinguished services as the DGMO, he was awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal. Among his numerous achievements in the Army was the planning and execution of Operation Khukri - to extricate trapped Indian peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone. The formations he has commanded include a mountain brigade involved in active counter-insurgency operations in the north east, an elite RAPID (Reorganised Army Plains Infantry Division) unit, the 1 Strike Corps based at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and the IV Corps based at Tezpur, Assam. For his exceptional performance he was awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
General Vij also commanded two Corps that included a Strike Corps and a Corps deployed in active counter-insurgency operations in the North East. On 01 October 2000, he was appointed as the GOC of Southern Command at Pune and led the Army's rescue efforts during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. In October 2001, he was appointed as the Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) at New Delhi and in January 2002, he was appointed as the 10th Colonel of the Dogra Regiment and the Dogra Scouts. He was appointed as the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) on 31 December 2004. He is married to Mrs. Rita Vij and they have a son, Nalin, who is a software engineer in the United States.
General Vij retired on 31 January 2005, after completing more than 42 years of distinguished military service.
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| Preceded by Sundararajan Padmanabhan |
Chief of Army Staff 2002 – 2005 |
Succeeded by Joginder Jaswant Singh |
