Aizawl, Jan 16 (Reporter) Former Army Chief General (Retd) Vijay Kumar Singh was sworn in as the 25th Governor of Mizoram at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan's Circular Lawn in Aizawl on Thursday. Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi administered the oath of office, with the Warrant of Appointment from the President of India read by Mizoram Chief Secretary Khilli Ram Meena. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Lalduhoma, former Chief Ministers Lal Thanhawla and Zoramthanga, Speaker Lalbiakzama, Home Minister K. Sapdanga, Leader of Opposition Lalchhandama Ralte, other Cabinet Ministers, Gauhati High Court Judge, Dy. Speaker, Minister of State, Lok Sabha MP, Rajya Sabha MP, MLAs, Chief Secretary, DGP, leaders from political parties, NGOs and other special invitees. General (Dr) V K Singh was born on May 10, 1951 to the late Captain Jagat Singh (later Colonel) and late Krishna Kumari at Pune. He is married to Bharti Singh with the couple having two daughters and one grandchild. An alumnus of Birla Public School, Pilani and National Defence Academy, he served as the 26th Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army. The former Army Chief was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of The Rajput Regiment (Kali Chindi) on 14 June 1970. He is also an honour graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington with a competitive vacancy. He is also a graduate of US Army Rangers Course at Fort Benning, USA and USA Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was awarded Yudh Seva Medal (YSM) for operations as part of IPKF in Sri Lanka, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for distinguished service while commanding a counter-insurgency force in 2005 and Para Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) in recognition of his exceptional and distinguished services in the Eastern Theatre in 2009. He became Chief of the Army Staff on 31 March 2010 and retired on 31 May 2012. On 11 March 2011, General Singh was inducted into the United States War College (Class of 2001) International Fellows Hall of Fame. He is the 33rd International and the first Indian Armed Forces Officer to be inducted. He joined the Bhartiya Janata Party on March 1, 2014 and successfully contested Lok Sabha Election from Ghaziabad constituency with (2.4 million plus electorate). General Singh won the 2014 LS election with the highest margin in the country. He was entrusted with being MoS for External Affairs, MoS Independent charge for DoNER and MoS for Overseas Indian Affairs. As MoS MEA, the former Army Chief represented India several bilateral and multilateral events as well as Special Assignment in Asia, Africa, Latin America & The Caribbean, Region and Europe. He is also credited for rescuing more than 7000 people from Yemen and Sudan during civil war besides bringing back mortal remains of 39 Indian who were kidnapped and killed by ISIS in Iraq. Gen Singh has also contested the Parliamentary election in 2019 and won the seat with huge margin of 5.15 lakh votes from Ghaziabad. He was sworn in as Hon'ble MoS Road Transport and Highways. In June 2021, he was given additional charge of MoS Civil Aviation. Consequent to outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine almost 18000 Indian students were stranded in war torn Ukraine. Government of India launched Operation Ganga for evacuation of these students. General VK Singh was sent to Poland to organise rescue operations as part of Operation Ganga. He successfully rescued and evacuated almost 4000 students from that area. In 2023, a tunnel under construction in Uttarakhand at Silkyara collapsed trapping 41 workers. The former Army Chief as part of MoRTH stayed for 16 days for this rescue and 41 workers were rescued without any harm...////...