Rajiv Ghai Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rajiv Ghai (DGMO)

• In December 1989, Rajiv Ghai was appointed to the Kumaon Regiment in Ranikhet, Almora, Uttarakhand.

• He has held many major positions, such as Colonel General Staff in a division working on counter-insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

• Rajiv Ghai has also served as a Brigadier at the Military Operations Directorate at Army Headquarters.

• He has led a battalion on the Western Sector, a brigade, and a division on the Northern Borders.

• In 2023, Rajiv Ghai was appointed as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC) of the Chinar Corps, which handled Army operations in Kashmir.

  

  An old picture Rajiv Ghai

• On 25 October 2024, he was appointed as the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India. After that, he started planning and leading Indian military and counter-terror operations.

• Rajiv Ghai ensured that the armed forces were always ready and worked with other military branches and government ministries.

• He also started working at the strategic and operational levels within the military hierarchy and reporting directly to the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS).

• Rajiv Ghai then became the main military contact with Pakistan’s DGMO to manage and reduce border tensions.

• On 11 May 2025, he spoke at a press briefing after the execution of Operation Sindoor. He said that Virat Kohli was his favourite cricketer after Kohli retired from Test cricket.

• Rajiv Ghai was joined by Air Marshal AK Bharti (Director General Air Operations) and Vice Admiral AN Pramod (Director General of Naval Operations).
  

  Vice Admiral A N Pramod, Lt. General Rajiv Ghai, Air Marshal AK Bharti, and Major General SS Sharda during a press conference on ‘Operation Sindoor’ in New Delhi (2025)

• While speaking about the situation at the India-Pakistan border, he compared cricket to national defence.

• He explained India’s strong air-defence system by using a cricket example from the famous 1974-1975 Ashes series.

• Rajiv Ghai said that he wanted to talk about cricket because Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket. He called Kohli his favourite cricketer, like many other Indians.

• He spoke about the 1970s Ashes series between Australia and England and mentioned two Australian fast bowlers, Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee, who dominated England’s batting. He quoted a popular line from that time,

  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Thommo don’t get ya, Lillee surely must.”

• Rajiv Ghai said that India’s air defence has many layers, and if one layer misses, another will stop the threat.

• He added that all layers work together to keep the country safe from attacks.

• Rajiv Ghai likes travelling to distant places in his free time.
  

  Rajiv Ghai during a trip