Central Command (India)

The Central Command of the Indian Army is one of the seven operational commands of the army. It is based at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Central Command
Central Command's insignia today
Active1942–1946
1 May 1963[1] – Present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
TypeCommand
Garrison/HQLucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt General N. S. Raja Subramani
Notable
commanders		Gen S F Rodrigues

History

Second World War

Central Command was first established in 1942 during World War II and then disbanded in 1946.[2] Southern Command was responsible for most of the training activities for Indian Army until Central Command was formed in April 1942 which took over the responsibility of some of the training areas.[3]

Post 1962 Indo-China war

With its HQ at Lucknow the Command was re-established on 1 May 1963 due to the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Lt Gen K Bahadur Singh was the first Army Commander of the new Central Command. Prior to that date Lucknow had been the headquarters of the Eastern Command.[4][5]

Rescue operations during 2013 North India floods

During 2013 North India floods in its rescue operations "Operation Surya Hope" in Uttarakhand, the Central Command mobilised over 8,000 troops for rescue and relief operations for stranded people on all four different axis of Rishikesh-Uttarkashi-Harsil-Gangotri axis, Rudraprayag-Kedarnath axis, Joshimath-Badrinath axis and Dharchula-Tawaghat axis in Pithoragarh district. Under operation Ganga, the Army evacuated 1,150 persons from Harsil area; 6,000 from Joshimath and 700 from Tawaghat area. Army operations in the 40,000 square kilometres were led by Lieutenant General Anil Chait, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command.[6][7]

Structure

Central Command's Area Of Responsibility (AOR) covers eight states of India: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.[8] 18 Regimental Centres and a large number of logistic and training establishments come under Central Command. The responsibility for the central sector of the Western border with Pakistan also lies with Central Command.[9] Almost half of the 62 cantonments in India lie within the Central Command's theatre.[10]

There are two Static Area Formations:- Uttar Bharat Area and Madhya Bharat Area. Central Command earlier used to act as strategic reserve but now it is looking after Uttarakhand sector of Sino-Indian border.[11][12]

Structure of Central Command
Corps Corps HQ GOC of Corps

(Corps Commander)

 Assigned Units Unit HQ
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A 14 RAPID Division Dehradun, Uttarakhand
50 (Independent) Parachute Brigade Agra, Uttar Pradesh
9 (Independent) Mountain Brigade Joshimath, Uttarakhand
136 (Independent) Mountain Brigade Sumdo, Himachal Pradesh
119 (Independent) Mountain Brigade Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand
N/A N/A N/A Uttar Bharat Area Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Madhya Bharat Area Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Precursors

Following is the list of precursors to the Western Command and their commanders:[2]

Central Command (1942–1946)
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command
Rank Name Appointment date Left office Unit of commission
Lieutenant General Henry B. D. Willcox May 1942 December 1944 Sherwood Foresters
General Sir Geoffry A. P. Scoones December 1944 December 1946 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)

List of GOC-in-C of Central Command (1963–present)
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command
Rank Name Appointment Date Left Office Unit of Commission Ref.
Lieutenant General Kanwar Bahadur Singh May 1963 August 1966 19th Hyderabad Regiment
Lieutenant General Joginder Singh Dhillon August 1966 August 1970 Bengal Sappers
Lieutenant General Premindra Singh Bhagat August 1970 Jun 1972 Bombay Sappers
Lieutenant General H. K. Sibal June 1972 November 1973 5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force)
Lieutenant General Khem Karan Singh November 1973 March 1975 16 Light Cavalry [13]
Lieutenant General J. S. Nakai April 1975 March 1979 Regiment of Artillery [14]
Lieutenant General R. D. Hira April 1979 June 1980 11 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Walter Anthony Gustavo Pinto July 1980 June 1982 Brigade of the Guards
Lieutenant General H. C. Dutta July 1982 November 1983 8 Gorkha Rifles
Lieutenant General Bhupinder Singh December 1983 September 1985 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General K. K. Hazari October 1985 January 1986 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General K. B. Mehta February 1986 December 1987 Brigade of the Guards
Lieutenant General Sami Khan January 1988 March 1989 Madras Regiment
Lieutenant General Sunith Francis Rodrigues April 1989 October 1989 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General Faridoon Noshir Billimoria November 1989 June 1991 5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) [15]
Lieutenant General Vijai Singh July 1991 February 1992 8th Light Cavalry
Lieutenant General Y. N. Sharma March 1992 March 1994 The Grenadiers
Lieutenant General Arun Kumar Gautama April 1994 April 1995 16th Light Cavalry [16]
Lieutenant General R. K. Gulati April 1995 May 1996 9th Deccan Horse
Lieutenant General Chandra Sekhar June 1996 September 1997 4 Gorkha Rifles [17]
Lieutenant General Surjit Singh October 1997 September 2000 Dogra Regiment [18]
Lieutenant General P. S. Joshi October 2000 September 2001 8 Gorkha Rifles [19]
Lieutenant General D. S. Chauhan October 2001 December 2003 Madras Regiment [20]
Lieutenant General Ram Subramanyam January 2004 December 2005 Corps of Engineers [21]
Lieutenant General O. P. Nandrajog January 2006 February 2008 Brigade of the Guards [22]
Lieutenant General Harcharanjit Singh Panag March 2008 December 2008 Sikh Regiment [23]
Lieutenant General J. K. Mohanty January 2009 February 2010 Dogra Regiment
Lieutenant General Vijay Kumar Ahluwalia March 2010 February 2012 Regiment of Artillery
Lieutenant General Anil Chait March 2012 June 2013 Armoured Corps [24]
Lieutenant General Rajan Bakhshi July 2013 November 2015 Poona Horse [25]
Lieutenant General Balwant Singh Negi December 2015 30 September 2018 Assam Regiment [26]
Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna 1 October 2018 30 September 2019 Rajputana Rifles [27]
Lieutenant General Iqroop Singh Ghuman 1 October 2019 31 March 2021 Brigade of The Guards [28]
Lieutenant General Yogendra Dimri 1 April 2021 28 February 2023 Bombay Sappers [29]
Lieutenant General N. S. Raja Subramani 1 March 2023 Incumbent Garhwal Rifles [30]

See also

Operation Surya Hope

References
  1. "Army pays poignant tributes to its martyrs & bravehearts". The Times of India. 3 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Alan Jeffreys; Patrick Rose (1 August 2012). The Indian Army 1939–47 Experience and Development. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9781409456537. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  4. "Central Command Raising Day concludes". The Times of India. 3 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  5. Subodh Kapoor (2002). The Indian Encyclopaedia: India (Central Provinces)-Indology. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 3372. ISBN 9788177552683. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  6. "Army rescues over 7,000 stranded persons". The Times of India. 19 June 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  7. "2,500 additional troops deployed for rescue operations". The Times of India. 21 June 2013. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  8. "Theatre Commands". India Today.
  9. "Commands of the Indian Army". Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  10. Mukund Padmanabhan (11 May 2003). "Central Command's novel initiative". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  11. Bharat Verma; G. M. Hiranandani; B. K. Pandey (2008). Indian Armed Forces. Lancer Publishers. p. 16. ISBN 9780979617423. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  12. Twitter https://twitter.com/conflictx7/status/1532037655315197958/photo/1. Retrieved 8 June 2022. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "Lieutenant General Khem Karan Singh, MVC: A great military leader". defenceinfo.com. 11 August 2016.
  14. "General Nakai laid to rest with service honours". The Tribune.
  15. "NEW ARMY C0MMANDERS ANNOUNCED" (PDF). 29 October 1989. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  16. "Ex-Western Army Commander Lt Gen Gautama passes away". 28 November 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  17. "Padmanabhan may be new Army Chief". The Tribune.
  18. "Shortage of officers may continue". The Tribune.
  19. "First IDS chief Lt Gen Joshi dies". The Times of India.
  20. "New Army Vice-Chief". The Hindu. 5 September 2001.
  21. "Lt-Gen Subramanyam is new GOC-in-C". The Times of India.
  22. "Lt Gen Nandrajog takes over as Central Command GOC-in-C". Outlook.
  23. "Senior Appointments : Army". pib.nic.in. PIB.
  24. "LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANIL CHAIT TAKES OVER AS GOC-IN-C, CENTRAL COMMAND". Indian Army.
  25. "Lt Gen Rajan Bakhshi takes over as GOC-in-C, Central Command". Indian Defence Review.
  26. "Lt Gen BS Negi appointed Central Command's new GOC-in-C (designate)". The Times of India.
  27. "Lt Gen Abhay Krishna takes over as GOC-in-Chief of Central Command". The Times of India.
  28. Gurung, Shaurya Karanbir. "Naravane appointed as new Vice Chief of Indian Army, four army commanders appointed". The Economic Times. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  29. "Lt Gen Yogendra Dimri appointed as next Commander-in-chief of Lucknow-based Central Army Command". ANI News. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  30. "Lt. Gen. Raju shifted, new Vice-Chief named". The Hindu. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
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