Lt. General Ajai Kumar Singh takes over as Southern Command Chief

Southern Command Indian Army: Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh takes over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Command of the Indian Army, as per the Defence release.

Ajai Kumar Singh is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pune, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned into the 7/11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1984.

The outgoing Army Commander Lieutenant General JS Nain complimented all the ranks of the Command for their unflinching commitment, devotion, and dedication to accomplishing the tasks. After assuming the charge, Lt. General Singh also paid homage to the fallen soldiers by laying a wreath at the Southern Command war memorial in Pune.

Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh assumed the command of the Southern Army as its 50th Army Commander today. On taking charge, he laid a wreath at the War Memorial, Pune in a solemn ceremony to remember the fallen heroes: Defence Ministry pic.twitter.com/cEdTLFBk1B

— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2022

Who is Ajai Kumar Singh?

1.General Ajai Kumar Singh commanded 1/11 Gorkha Rifles on the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir, an elite brigade in the Western Theatre, a frontline counter-insurgency force in the Kashmir Valley, and Trishakti Corps in the North East.

2. General was also the instructor at Commando Wing, Belgaum Additional Director General of Military Operations, and Director General at the Integrated Headquarters of the Defence Ministry.

3. He has been a diplomat soldier, having done a stint as the officer-in-charge, PPO at the Embassy of India in Nepal.

Southern Command Indian Army

Southern Command is a formation of the Indian Army which is active since 1895. The command has seen the action during the integration of several princely states into Modern India, during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars.

Notably, during the Second World War Southern Command was reformed as the Southern Army in April 1942. The formation reverted to the title Southern Command in November 1945.

Southern Command Structure

The headquarters of Southern Command is located in Pune, Maharashtra. It consists of two corps and two military areas.

The two areas of Southern Command are: Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat areas (MG&G Area) and the Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala Area (ATNK&K area). In 2005, the changes to the area of its jurisdiction were made when the new South Western Command was established.