The Army Chief Central Command visit on Tuesday placed operational readiness squarely at the front of the agenda, with General Dhiraj Seth, the Chief of the Army Staff, reviewing the prevailing preparedness and ongoing capability enhancement at Headquarters Central Command in Lucknow.

He was briefed on the Command's operational posture, the security situation across its area of responsibility, infrastructure development, modernisation and the steps in hand to strengthen combat readiness further, the Army's public information wing said.

The review followed a pattern the Army chief has kept since he took charge.

Interacting with commanders and troops of every rank, General Dhiraj Seth reaffirmed that operational preparedness, adaptability and self-reliance remain the bedrock of military effectiveness. He added that a technologically empowered and future-ready force would keep protecting national interests while contributing to the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision of a developed India.

What the Army Chief Central Command review covered

The briefings ran across the ground a theatre commander watches day to day: how formations are postured, where the security picture stands, what is being built, and how fast new equipment and practices are being absorbed. Modernisation and combat readiness were set side by side, which is the way the Army now talks about the two, because kit that arrives without the training and the doctrine to use it does not add up to readiness.


Self-reliance and a technologically empowered force

The self-reliance line is the one to watch. Placing it next to operational preparedness and adaptability, as the Army chief did, ties everyday readiness to the wider Aatmanirbhar Bharat drive, a Ministry of Defence priority, to build and sustain military capability at home rather than buy it in. The same thread runs through recent Army projects, among them the induction of an indigenous cold-weather fuel made for high-altitude operations.

A technologically empowered and future-ready Army, in his framing, is one that fields home-grown systems, absorbs them quickly, and keeps its people trained to fight with them.

A command with a central-sector charter

Central Command, known as Surya Command, was raised at Lucknow on 1 May 1963 in the aftermath of the 1962 war with China, and takes its formation sign from Surya, the Sun. Its footprint runs across eight states, from the Himalayan frontier in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand down through the plains to Odisha, and it holds responsibility for the central sector along the Line of Actual Control and the international border. It lies at the centre of the Army's map, sharing a boundary with every other command.

The Viksit Bharat 2047 goal

General Dhiraj Seth also tied the Army's course to Viksit Bharat 2047, the government's goal of a developed India by that year, casting a capable and self-reliant force as part of that national effort. The Army's public information account carried the reference as the closing note of his interaction with the troops.

Part of a wider round of command visits

The Army Chief Central Command review at Lucknow is one of several visits General Dhiraj Seth has made since taking over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff on 30 June 2026. In his first weeks he went to the Northern and Eastern Commands to weigh preparedness along the Line of Control and in the Northeast, paid tribute at Dras on Kargil Vijay Diwas, and in Delhi received a tri-service circumnavigation crew.