General Dhiraj Seth (sitting) takes over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army, succeeding General Upendra Dwivedi, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

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Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, in his parting statement on Tuesday, said that the directions to the armed forces are very clear: “to see together, take decisions together and take actions together”, given that wars will be more joint, integrated and theatre-oriented.General Dwivedi retired on Tuesday, handing over the reins of command of the Indian Army to General Dhiraj Seth after spending 40 years in olive green. He was accorded a guard of honour as part of a ceremonial farewell held on the lawns of the South Block.Interacting with the media on the sidelines of the event, Gen Dwivedi said he was completing a two-year tenure as the 30th Chief of Army Staff with a “sense of deep gratitude, pride and satisfaction.”All three services of the armed forces worked with jointness and integration during Operation Sindoor in May 2025, which was in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Gen Diwedi said.“The coordination among the three services got strengthened. The Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force worked together with shared thinking and integration,” he said.“In future, wars will be more joint, integrated and theatre-oriented. So, our direction is clear – to see together, make decisions together and take actions together,” he observed.Giving a sense of his stint, he stated that the Indian Army has maintained its operational readiness in a progressive manner on all fronts in the past two years.On the northern border, under Operation Snow Leopard, “our deployment is firm and vigilant”, he said.“On the western border too, the army has done its duty with complete seriousness and readiness. Operation Sindoor is a burning example,” he asserted.The outgoing Army chief asserted that for any commander, “his strengths are his soldiers, whose commitment, bravery and discipline are the identity of the Indian Army”.The brave soldiers of the Army have played key roles in counter-terrorism operations, he said.Published on June 30, 2026