General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff, wrapped up a Sapta Shakti Command visit to Jaipur on Thursday, reviewing the formation's operational preparedness and the capability enhancement work underway across it.

Lieutenant General Mohit Malhotra, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Sapta Shakti Command, briefed the COAS on the prevailing operational environment. Force preparedness, training initiatives and the steps being taken to sharpen combat effectiveness and mission readiness featured in the briefing, part of the routine formation level reporting the Indian Army runs through its Army Commander visits.

What the Sapta Shakti Command visit covered

Gen Dhiraj Seth reiterated the thrust areas laid out in VIJAY, the Army's five point guiding framework for building a technology driven, future ready force. He spoke of the need for the force to stay agile, adaptive and technologically empowered against evolving security challenges.

Dynamic training that folds in emerging technologies came up too. The COAS called it central to holding a decisive edge across the spectrum of conflict, a line he has returned to at other formation visits since taking over.

VIJAY, five months into the framework

Gen Seth first set out VIJAY on the day he assumed charge as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, built around vigilance, innovation, jointness, Aatmanirbharta and Yodha First. The Jaipur stop was one more formation visit where he has pressed formation commanders to translate those five letters into ground level practice rather than treat them as a slogan handed down from South Block.

A recurring checklist across commands

Technology absorption and training modernisation have come up at nearly every Army Commander interaction since June, Sapta Shakti Command included. The emphasis this time sat squarely on jointness and innovation, the two VIJAY elements that map most directly onto the western theatre's terrain and threat picture.

Message to the rank and file

The COAS appreciated the high standards of operational readiness and commitment on display across Sapta Shakti Command. All ranks, he said, had matched the moment.

He exhorted troops to hold on to relentless vigilance, professional excellence and unwavering resolve in the service of the nation, a standard line at Army Commander interactions rather than one pegged to any specific concern raised during the visit.

Calls on the Governor and Chief Minister

Gen Dhiraj Seth also called on Shri Haribhau Bagde, Governor of Rajasthan, and Shri Bhajan Lal Sharma, Chief Minister of the Government of Rajasthan, during the Sapta Shakti Command visit. Civil-military synergy and cooperation framed both conversations, part of the customary courtesy calls a service chief makes on a state's civil leadership while touring a command headquartered in that state.

Lt Gen Mohit Malhotra took over as GOC-in-C of the Jaipur based command earlier this year, moving in from Chief of Staff, Eastern Command. Formation level felicitation events, including a Yoddha Seva Samman honouring veterans hosted at another Army command earlier this year, have run alongside such visits.