Born on September 17, 1945 in Bahawalpur (now in Pakistan), General J.J Singh assumed the charge of the Indian Army as the 22nd Chief of Army Staff on January 31, 2005. Hailing from a family of warriors, General Singh is a third generation soldier. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned into the 9 Maratha Light Infantry (LI) on 2nd August 1964. He also received the colour of the Battalion from ex President Late Dr. Zakir Hussain at the Investiture Parade in 1968.

During his tenure with the 7th and 9th Maratha Light Infantry and also while on higher command and staff appointments, General Singh served in Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Sikkim, Joshimath in Uttarakhand besides Arunachal Pradesh. During his command tenure of the 9 Maratha Light Infantry in Arunachal Pradesh, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM). He was the India’s first Defence Attache` to Algeria from 1987 – 1990. Because of his distinguished services in his field, he was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) on 26th January 2004.

General Singh has also contributed articles for regimental and other professional journals and his thesis on ‘Sino-Indian Border Dispute’ and ‘Strategy to Boost Defence Exports’ have been highly acclaimed. He is an ace shooter and plays basketball, squash and golf and is also a keen mountaineer who has trained under the late Tenzing Norgay at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. He is married to Mrs Anupama Singh and they have a son and daughter.

Fluent in both Arabic and French, General Singh retired on 30 September 2007 after completing more than 43 years of service to the Indian Army and the nation.