Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar Assumes Command of Southern Command

Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar AVSM, VSM assumed command as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, on 01 July 2026. He takes over the Pune-based command from Lt Gen Sandeep Jain AVSM, SM, who has moved to Army Headquarters as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

A Handover at Pune

The change arrives inside a busy fortnight for senior Army appointments. It lands only a day after Gen Dhiraj Seth took over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, part of a wider churn at the top that also saw Gen Upendra Dwivedi relinquish charge after more than four decades in uniform.

Southern Command is one of the Army's largest, holding responsibility across a vast and varied stretch of the country. Lt Gen Jain's elevation to Vice Chief opened the seat that Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar now fills.



Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar and Operation Sindoor

His most recent operational test came as General Officer Commanding 2 Corps during Operation Sindoor. The Army has credited Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar with decisive leadership and strategic foresight through that period, the campaign for which a number of senior commanders were later recognised in the honours conferred by President Murmu.

A Corps command in a live operation is among the more demanding jobs a Lieutenant General holds. He carried it in the Western theatre.

A Career Across the Armoured Corps

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into 74 Armoured Regiment in December 1988. Over a service life running past four decades, his command tenures have covered an Armoured Regiment in an operational area, a strategic Independent Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Division and a premier Strike Corps in the Western Sector.

The staff appointments read as a tour through the mechanised arm and the planning branches. He served as Colonel Military Secretary in a Strike Corps, Colonel General Staff of an Armoured Division in the Western Sector, Brigadier Quartermaster General of a Strike Corps and Brigadier General Staff of an Operational Command. He was later Additional Director General, Armoured Corps, and Director General Territorial Army.

Instructor, Attaché and Scholar

He has taught at the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. Two postings took him abroad. He served with the Indian Military Training Team to Bhutan and then as Defence and Military Attache at the Embassy of India, Moscow, with accreditation extending to Armenia and Belarus. He is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and a post graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, the College of Defence Management and the National Defence College. His civil study adds a Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies, a Masters in Management Studies and a Master of Philosophy in Defence and International Relations. His decorations include the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, the Vishisht Seva Medal, the Chief of Army Staff Commendation and three Army Commander's Commendations.

First Orders at Southern Command

On taking charge, as set out in the Ministry of Defence release, he laid a wreath at the Southern Command War Memorial and received a Guard of Honour at Headquarters Southern Command.

He told the command he expected operational readiness held at the highest level across its areas of responsibility. He pressed for greater jointness with the other services, for indigenous capability development, and for the rapid absorption of emerging technologies. His confidence, he said, was that all ranks would hold the standards the formation is known for.