South Western Command was raised on April 15, 2005 and operationalised at Jaipur on August 15, 2005 by Lt Gen K Nagaraj. The present GOC-in-C is Lieutenant General Alok Singh Kler, PVSM, VSM. South Western Command is the seventh and the youngest Command of the Indian Army. It was accordingly christened as the “Sapta Shakti Command”.

South Western Command is operationally responsible for the defence of Southern Punjab and Northern Rajasthan. It comprises of two of the oldest formations of Indian Army, i.e, Strike 1 and Chetak Corps. Strike 1 is located at Mathura. The Corps was raised in 1965 by Lt Gen PO Dunn. Chetak Corps was raised in September 1942 in North Africa to spearhead the offensive operations of the 8th Army. Headquarters Chetak Corps was re-raised at Bathinda on July 1, 1979 by Lt Gen ML Tuli.

Both the Corps are elite battle tested strike formations of the Indian Army geared to overcome any challenge to uphold national security and honour. Over the past few years, Sapta Shakti Command has been actively involved in many operational joint Exs with friendly foreign countries and other services. To name a few, Ex Ajeya Warrior 2017 (Indo-UK Joint Training) was conducted in December 2017 at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges to share Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism Techniques from each other, Ex Vijay Prahar 2018, a massive scale Army-Air Force joint Ex was conducted from April to May, 2018 and Ex Vajra Prahar 2018 (Joint Indo-US Special Forces Exercise) was conducted in the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges from November 19 to December 2, 2018.

Units from the Command also participated in Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) Peace Mission Ex with the aim to jointly conduct anti-terrorist drills at tactical level in an international counter terrorist environment under SCO Charter.Besides operational commitments, the Command has been proactive in its role of Nation Building. Towards this end, the Command orgnaised thirteen National Integration Tours for Children living in far off places. Sapta Shakti Student Outreach Campaign (SSSOC) was conducted as one of the tools to ensure quality interaction with students of schools, colleges and the teaching staff with a view to motivate young minds towards nation building. 289 schools and colleges were addressed under this programme with an outreach to 47,353 students during the year 2018.

Army Melas (Know Your Army) were conducted every year on the occasion of 26 January and 15 August to provide an opportunity to all citizens and children to learn about how the Army fights a war.Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan (MJSA) vide which the Command has been incorporated in the flagship project of the Government of Rajasthan, to conserve and exploit available water to its maximum potential. The project covered 19 districts in three phases. A total of 37 projects have been completed till date.

The Command has also been involved in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Operations during the unprecedented and incessant floods in Madhubani and Sitamarhi districts of Bihar wherein approximate 500 civilians were rescued and more than one thousand food packets alongwith approximately sixty thousand kilograms of relief material was distributed.In line with declaration of year 2018 as “Year of the Disabled Soldier in the Line of Duty”, the Command has run a successful mass media campaign to raise public awareness of disabled soldiers, distributed disability aids, such as, wheel chairs and affected infrastructural changes to render all buildings to be disabled-friendly.Sapta Shakti Command is operationally ever-ready and committed to fight war anytime on orders, to ensure Decisive Victory for the country. “Sarvada Vijayee Bhava”, the Command Motto, says it all.