General Bipin Rawat, who was selected ignoring the seniority of Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi and Lt. Gen. P.M. Hariz, took over as the new Chief of the Army Staff from General Dalbir Singh at a ceremony held in South Block. Gen. Rawat, a Gorkha Rifles officer, will be the 27th Army Chief. Gen. Rawat has held key appointments in the Army headquarters and with the U.N. peacekeeping force, and has extensive experience in Kashmir and in the Eastern region. Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa took over as the 25th Chief of the Air Staff at a ceremony held at the Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan) here on Saturday. The fighter pilot was the Commanding Officer of a front-line ground-attack fighter squadron of MiG-21s that was involved in air operations during the “limited war” in Kargil against Pakistan in 1999.