ITANAGAR, 16 Feb: Retired lieutenant general Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik was sworn in as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh in a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here on Thursday.
Justice Nani Tagia, judge of the Gauhati High Court, administered the oath of office to Parnaik, who is the 20th governor of the state.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu, his cabinet colleagues, MLAs, and high-ranking civil and police officials were present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Parnaik replaces BD Mishra, who has been posted as lieutenant governor of the union territory of Ladakh.
Mishra had been appointed as the governor of Arunachal on 3 October, 2017.
Born on 28 June, 1953, Parnaik had served as commander of the army’s prestigious northern command. He was commissioned into the Rajputana Rifles on 31 March, 1972, and commanded its 2nd battalion in the Rajasthan sector and in Jammu & Kashmir, a Raj Bhavan communiqué said.
On 26 January, 2003, Parnaik was awarded the Yudh Seva Medal for his command of an infantry brigade during the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff. He attended the National Defence College in 2004 as part of the 44th course.
Promoted to the rank of major general, Parnaik was appointed as general officer commanding (GoC) of the 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim. He later commanded the Indian military training team in Bhutan. In 2009, Parnaik was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and appointed as the GoC of the 4 Corps in Tezpur (Assam). After a year-long tenure, he moved to the army headquarters as “the director general perspective planning,” it said.
For his tenure as the GoC of the 4 Corps, on 26 January, 2010, Parnaik was awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal.
On 1 December, 2010, Parnaik was accorded the status of army commander and named the commander-designate of the northern command. He took over from Lt Gen BS Jaswal on 1 January, 2011.
On 26 January, 2012, Parnaik was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal.
After a two-and-a-half year stint as the northern army commander, he retired from the army on 30 June, 2013. (PTI)
