Sundararajan Padmanabhan

General Sundararajan Padmanabhan PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Nickname(s)	Paddy
Born	(1940-12-05)5 December 1940
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Army
Years of service	1959-2002
Rank	General
Unit	Regiment of Artillery
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Vishisht Seva Medal

Sundararajan Padmanabhan (born 5 December 1940 in Trivandrum, Travancore), was the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army^[1] Padmanabhan succeeded General V.P. Malik on September 30, 2000.^[1] He also served as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee^[2]

Padmanabhan was schooled at the Rashtriya Indian Military College. In 1956 Padmanabhan joined the National Defence Academy and in 1959 was enrolled into the Regiment of Artillery.^[1]

He commanded an Infantry Brigade from December 1988 to February 1991 at Ranchi, Bihar and Punjab and was then appointed as the General Officer Commanding of an Infantry Division in Punjab from March 1991 to August 1992. He served as Chief of Staff, 3 Corps from September 1992 to June 1993. After his promotion to Lieutenant General, he was commander of the 15 Corps in the Kashmir valley from July 1993 to February 1995. It was during his tenure as the 15 Corps Commander, that the Army made big gains over the militants in Kashmir and could even scale down its operations. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his services as the 15 Corps Commander.

General Padmanabhan held the appointment of Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) after the successful culmination of which, he took over as the GOC of the Northern Command at Udhampur on 1 September 1996. Before being appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, he was the GOC of Southern Command. He retired on 31 December 2002, after completing more than 43 years of distinguished military service. He has authored two books. He presently resides in Chennai.^[3]

Author

Padmanabhan is also an author of Indian military fiction, including the 2004 novel Writing on the Wall, the plot of which involves India fighting a war simultaneously with Pakistan while improving relations with China.

References