Draft:Tarun Kumar Aich

Lieutenant General Tarun Kumar Aich, PVSM, AVSM is a serving General Officer of the Indian Army. He is the 4th and the current Deputy Chief of the Army Staff. He is the first officer from the Madras Regiment to become the Deputy Chief of Army Staff DCOAS (Strategy), assuming office from Lt Gen M. V. Suchindra Kumar on 14 Mar 2023. Previously, he was the Director General of Military Intelligence. Prior to that, he was GOC Trishakti Corps (XXXIII Corps). He earlier served as the Director General of National Cadet Corps.

Early Life and Education
He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla where he graduated with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He is also an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and Army War College, Mhow. He had undergone the Command and General Staff Course (CGSC) at Hamburg, Germany. He is a Postgraduate and holds an M.Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the Madras University.

Military Career
He was commissioned into 16th battalion of the Madras Regiment (Travancore) in June 1986 from the Indian Military Academy. He has commanded his battalion in the Siachen Glacier and in the intense counter terrorism environment of the Valley Sector in Kashmir. He has held the appointment of the Brigade Major of a Brigade in Counter Insurgency Operations (CI Ops) and General Staff Officer-1 in the Military Intelligence Directorate. He has tenanted the appointment of Colonel (General Staff) of an Offensive Formation in the Plains Sector, Colonel General Staff (Planning) of a command headquarters, Deputy Commander of a brigade (new raising) in the Eastern Theatre, Deputy Director General Canteen Services, Brigadier General Staff of the Indian Military Academy, Commandant of the High Altitude Warfare School at Gulmarg. He also commanded the 12 Reorganized Army Plains Infantry Division (RAPID) in the desert sector.

On being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant general, he took over as the 33rd Director General of National Cadet Corps on 1 January 2021.

On October 22, 2021 he took over as the GOC XXXIII Corps succeeding Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh. On Dec 11, 2021, he set up a 400 litres of oxygen per minute oxygen generation plant, at the base hospital in Bengdubi near Bagdogra in Siliguri On May 16, 2022 Lt Gen Tarun Kumar Aich, the GOC of Trishakti Corps, and Avinash Khare, the VC of Sikkim University signed the MoU for the Eastern Command Tibetology cadre course (ECTCC). On Sept 20, 2022, he inaugurated The Avalanche Monitoring Radar (TAMR) operational in North Sikkim. It is first of its kind radar in India installed jointly by the Indian Army and Defence Geoinformatics and Research Establishment (DGRE) located at an altitude of 15,000 feet. After relinquishing the command of Trishakti Corps, he moved to the Army headquarters and assumed the appointment of Director General Military Intelligence.

On 14 March 2023, he assumed the appointment as the 4th and the current Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (Strategy) succeeding Lt Gen M. V. Suchindra Kumar.

Awards and decorations
He has been awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2021. The general officer has been awarded the Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation thrice.