Former Chief of Army Staff, Nepali Army

General (Retd.) Gaurav Shumsher Rana was born in 1955 in Kathmandu. He studied at The Lawrence School, Sanawar, he followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the Royal Nepalese Army in 1974.

Having passed his basic military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK, he was subsequently commissioned into the Purano Gorakh battalion as Second Lieutenant.

In his 42 years of service, he rose to command the same battalion his father had commanded – Purano Gorakh battalion – both at home and on a UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in 1994. He is an alumnus of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in the US, and National Defence College, Islamabad, Pakistan.

He was appointed Chief of the Army Staff of the Nepali Army in 2012. Having directed the integration of the Maoist combatants into the Nepali Army, and rescue and relief operations during the catastrophic earthquake in Nepal during his tenure, he retired in 2015.

A keen golfer and an all-terrain mountain biker, he enjoys spending time reading and bird-watching. Happily married for 40 years, he is blessed with two lovely daughters and four wonderful grandchildren.