Army Chief Southern Command review took General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff, to Headquarters Southern Command in Pune on Monday, where he assessed the Command's operational preparedness and ongoing capability enhancement initiatives.

Lieutenant General Rajesh Pushkar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, briefed the Army Chief on the prevailing operational environment. The briefing covered the Command's operational posture, training initiatives and the steps being taken to sharpen combat effectiveness and mission readiness. Gen Seth, the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, has made command-level readiness reviews a fixture of his tenure so far.

Army Chief Southern Command review opens with a posture briefing

Gen Seth's interaction with commanders and troops ran through several threads at once. He spoke of sustained operational readiness, adaptability and technology absorption, and pressed for continuous refinement of warfighting competencies and Techniques, Tactics and Procedures in step with the evolving character of warfare. Realistic training, greater jointness and indigenous capability development featured too, the Army Chief framing them as the building blocks of an agile, technologically empowered and future ready force.


Readiness, jointness and the push for self reliance

Professionalism and dedication drew commendation from the COAS.

He exhorted all ranks to stay mission focused, hold to the highest standards of operational readiness and keep strengthening the Command's operational edge. The message tracked closely with what Gen Seth told commanders at Central Command headquarters in Lucknow earlier this month, where the emphasis fell just as heavily on absorbing new technology without losing sight of basic soldiering. Southern Command's own push toward greater self reliance runs alongside a wider Army effort to fold indigenous platforms and systems into frontline units, a theme the Army Chief has raised repeatedly on his visits this year.

Army Chief Southern Command review turns to Yoddha Seva Samman honours

The visit was not only about posture and hardware. Gen Seth felicitated distinguished veterans with the Yoddha Seva Samman, an honour that recognises contributions to veteran welfare, youth empowerment, environmental conservation and community service after service. Neither the veterans' names nor their units were released alongside Monday's engagement.

The Pune felicitation follows a similar Yoddha Seva Samman ceremony the COAS presided over at Lucknow earlier this month, where four veterans were honoured for comparable post-service work. The award now runs as a recurring feature of Gen Seth's command visits.

The command Lt Gen Pushkar now leads

Southern Command is among the oldest formations in the Indian Army's order of battle, with its headquarters at Pune since the late nineteenth century. Its footprint today runs across two corps, the Konark Corps at Jodhpur and the Sudarshan Chakra Corps at Bhopal, alongside the Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area and the Dakshin Bharat Area headquartered at Chennai, together spanning a wide stretch of western and peninsular India.

Lt Gen Pushkar took over as GOC-in-C on 1 July, arriving from command of 2 Corps during Operation Sindoor. He succeeded Lt Gen Sandeep Jain, who moved on to serve as Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

A bond the Army calls lifelong

Closing the visit, Gen Seth returned to the veterans he had just honoured, acknowledging their enduring spirit of service and their contribution to nation building. The bond between the Indian Army and its veterans, he said, remains lifelong. The Indian Army has framed veteran outreach as a standing priority across its commands this year.