Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera of the Indian Army has been appointed Director General of Assam Rifles. He will take over the command of Assam Rifles from Lieutenant General PC Nair, who is retiring on 31 July 2024. Lieutenant General Lakhera, a native of Garhwal in Uttarakhand, has previously held the post of Inspector General in Assam Rifles.
While being a Major General in the Army, Mr. Lakhera served as Inspector General (North) of the paramilitary force Assam Rifles, but this year he was promoted to the post of Lieutenant General and was posted at the Army Headquarters.
Assam Rifles is a paramilitary force of India whose main area of responsibility is to handle the security arrangements of Assam and other border states of Northeast India. Being an para military force Assam Rifles works under the Union Home Ministry but in the supervision of General level officers of the Army. This is the reason why the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approves the name of its DG.
Belongs to military family:
Fifty-five year old Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera is originally a resident of Jakhand village of Tehri Garhwal, although currently his family lives in Vasant Vihar area of Dehradun. General Vikas Lakhera has graduated from DAV PG College. After passing out from Indian Military Academy (IMA), he got commissioned in 4 Sikh Light Regiment.
During his service in the army, Lt Gen Lakhera has been posted in terror-affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the North-East. Apart from being an experienced military officer, Vikas Lakhera is also a sportsman, music lover and experts of many languages. His father Vishnu Prasad Lakhera was in the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army and later also served as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Border Security Force (BSF). His brother-in-law, i.e., younger sister’s husband Virendra Singh is also a Colonel in the Army and younger brother Asim Lakhera is posted at the rank of Colonel in the Engineer Regiment.
Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera received various honors:
Born on 26 February 1969, Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera has received several military honors for his outstanding service, including the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal, Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card and two GOC-in-C Commendation Cards. Recently, he has also been awarded the AVSM by President Draupadi Murmu.
