Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi has been conferred with the honorary rank of General of the Nepal Army.
At a special ceremony organized at the Office of the President, President Ram Chandra Paudel, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Nepal Army, also presented General Dwivedi with a sword and scroll.
Earlier, General Dwivedi laid a wreath and page homage to fallen soldiers at the Bir Smarak at the Army Pavilion in Tundikhel. He was also accorded a ceremonial guard of honor at the Nepal Army headquarters.
Nepal and India have been decorating army chiefs of each other’s country with the honorary title for the past seven decades. General KM Carippa was the first Indian Army chief to be decorated with the title in 1952.
The tradition, which started when India was under the British Empire, has continued even after India’s independence. When India gained independence in 1947, Nepal was still under the tyrannical Rana rule and Rana Prime Ministers would be the Supreme Commander of the Nepal Army. That is why the British India government used to confer the honorary rank on the Rana Prime Ministers.
After India’s independence in 1947, Rana Prime Ministers Padma Shumsher and Mohan Shumsher received the honorary rank of the General of the Indian Army.
