The seventh, and the youngest, command of the Army — the South Western Command, which is headed by Lt. Gen. Gyan Bhushan — turned eight on Sunday. It’ll celebrate its ninth raising day here on Monday.
“The SWC, officially christened the Sapta Shakti Command, has extensive operational responsibility over a well developed and high value territory and demands preparedness of a very high order,” defence spokesperson Col. S.D. Goswami said.
The jurisdiction of the Command, headquartered in Jaipur, extends over Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, covering more than 1.5 lakh sq.km.
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These three States provide the “maximum number of soldiers” to the Army. In addition to guarding the frontier, the Command provides assistance to the civil administration in these States as well as in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
“Before the creation of South Western Command, our adversary found the sparsely populated and barren landscape a convenient axis for its armour and mechanised infantry as happened in 1965 as well as in 1971,” Col. Goswami said, and added that it has “become the hub of what is known as air, land battle.”