On 13 June 2026, the Government appointed Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM — currently the Vice Chief of the Army Staff — as the next Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), with effect from the afternoon of 30 June 2026. He succeeds General Upendra Dwivedi, who retires the same day. Notably, the incoming Chief is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, commissioned into the Armoured Corps in December 1986 — a nearly four-decade career that included command of an Armoured Regiment in the desert, an Armoured Brigade in the Western Theatre, a Counter-Insurgency Force in J&K, and the Sudarshan Chakra Corps, a premier strike formation.
For NDA aspirants, a Chief's appointment is a perfect peg to lock down the Army's command structure, rank hierarchy and the higher-defence organisation — among the most reliably tested defence-GK areas.
What the COAS Is — and Isn't
The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) is the professional head of the Indian Army and its highest-ranking serving officer (a four-star General). He is responsible for the Army's command, discipline, training, operational readiness and administration. The COAS is not the supreme commander — under Article 53(2) of the Constitution, the supreme command of the Armed Forces vests in the President of India; the Chiefs exercise command under law.
A crucial post-2019 distinction examiners love: the COAS heads the Army, but the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is the single-point military adviser to the government and heads the Department of Military Affairs (DMA). The CDS is "first among equals" with the three service Chiefs but does not command them operationally — he drives jointness, integration and the theatre-command reform. India's first CDS was General Bipin Rawat (2020).
How appointments are made: the three Service Chiefs are appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by the Prime Minister. The COAS normally holds office for 3 years or until age 62, whichever is earlier. The CDS, by contrast, has a service tenure that can run up to age 65 under amended rules.
It helps to place the COAS within the higher-defence organisation. At the apex is the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) — chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs Ministers — which takes the final call on major defence and security matters. The Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) heads the Ministry of Defence, which has four departments: the Department of Defence (DoD), Department of Defence Production (DDP), Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D, i.e. DRDO), and the post-2019 Department of Military Affairs (DMA) headed by the CDS. The COAS exercises operational command of the Army through Army Headquarters under this civilian-supremacy framework — a recurring conceptual point about civilian control of the military.
The Army's Command Structure — Memorise This
The Indian Army is organised into seven commands — six operational and one training:
| Command | Headquarters |
|---|---|
| Northern | Udhampur (J&K/Ladakh — faces China & Pakistan) |
| Western | Chandimandir |
| South Western | Jaipur |
| Eastern | Kolkata (faces China in the east) |
| Southern | Pune |
| Central | Lucknow |
| Army Training Command (ARTRAC) | Shimla (the only training command) |
Each command is led by a GOC-in-C (Lieutenant General). Below commands, the field hierarchy runs: Corps → Division → Brigade → Battalion/Regiment → Company → Platoon → Section. The incoming Chief's command of the Sudarshan Chakra Corps (21 Corps) — a "strike corps" meant for offensive operations into enemy territory — is the kind of specific that becomes a question.
A rough sense of scale, often examined: a Corps (commanded by a Lieutenant General, GOC) typically groups three or more divisions; a Division (commanded by a Major General, GOC) has 15,000–20,000 troops in three or more brigades; a Brigade (commanded by a Brigadier) has about 3,000 troops in three battalions; a Battalion (commanded by a Colonel) has 800–900 troops; a Company (Major/Lt Col) about 120; a Platoon (Lieutenant/JCO) about 30; and a Section about 10. India fields three strike corps (1, 2 and 21 Corps) built around armour and mechanised infantry for offensive thrusts, distinct from the "holding/pivot" corps that defend along the borders. The Army's combat power is organised into arms (the fighting arms — Armoured Corps, Mechanised Infantry, Infantry, Artillery, Army Air Defence, Engineers, Signals) and services (logistics and support — ASC, AOC, EME, AMC). The new Chief's branch, the Armoured Corps (the "cavalry"/tank arm), traces its lineage to India's historic cavalry regiments — a fitting note for a Cavalier-trained aspirant.
Army Rank Hierarchy
Commissioned officer ranks, junior to senior: Lieutenant → Captain → Major → Lieutenant Colonel → Colonel → Brigadier → Major General → Lieutenant General → General (COAS only).
The honorary five-star rank Field Marshal has been conferred only twice — on Sam Manekshaw (the first, in 1973, who led the Army to victory in the 1971 war that created Bangladesh) and K.M. Cariappa (the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, conferred in 1986). A Field Marshal never formally retires and continues to draw full pay for life. The COAS holds the rank of General (four stars). The gallantry/distinguished-service post-nominals in the new Chief's name are worth knowing: PVSM (Param Vishisht Seva Medal), UYSM (Uttam Yudh Seva Medal), AVSM (Ati Vishisht Seva Medal) — all distinguished/wartime service decorations, distinct from gallantry awards.
It is worth separating the two award families that examiners deliberately mix up. Gallantry awards (for bravery) run, in peacetime, Ashoka Chakra → Kirti Chakra → Shaurya Chakra, and in wartime, Param Vir Chakra (PVC) → Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) → Vir Chakra. Distinguished-service awards run PVSM → AVSM → VSM (peacetime) and Sarvottam/Uttam/Yudh Seva Medals (wartime). The PVC is India's highest wartime gallantry award; the first recipient was Major Somnath Sharma (1947). Keeping gallantry (Chakra family) distinct from service (Seva family) is a classic NDA trap.
Other Service Chiefs and the Theatre-Command Reform
For symmetry, the Indian Navy is headed by the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) and the Indian Air Force by the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) — both four-star officers (Admiral and Air Chief Marshal respectively). The Navy's four commands are Western (Mumbai), Eastern (Visakhapatnam), Southern (Kochi — training) and the tri-service Andaman & Nicobar Command (Port Blair), India's first and only unified theatre command, plus the Strategic Forces Command that handles nuclear delivery. The biggest ongoing reform — driven by the CDS and the DMA — is the move toward integrated theatre commands, which would reorganise the three services into joint, geography-based commands (rather than separate single-service commands) for unified war-fighting. This is the single most important "future of higher defence" theme, and the COAS, CNS and CAS are all stakeholders in shaping it.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The Chief of the Army Staff holds which rank? (a) Lieutenant General (b) General (four-star) (c) Field Marshal (d) Brigadier → (b).
Q2. In whom does the supreme command of the Armed Forces vest? (a) The COAS (b) The Defence Minister (c) The President of India (d) The CDS → (c) — under Article 53(2) of the Constitution.
Q3. Which is the Indian Army's only training command, and where is it based? (a) Central Command, Lucknow (b) ARTRAC, Shimla (c) Southern Command, Pune (d) Northern Command, Udhampur → (b).
Q4. Who appoints the three Service Chiefs? (a) The President directly (b) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) (c) The CDS (d) Parliament → (b).
Q5. Who was India's first Chief of Defence Staff? (a) Gen Manoj Pande (b) Gen M.M. Naravane (c) Gen Bipin Rawat (d) Gen Upendra Dwivedi → (c) — appointed in 2020.
Q6. Who was the first Field Marshal of the Indian Army? (a) K.M. Cariappa (b) Sam Manekshaw (c) K.S. Thimayya (d) J.N. Chaudhuri → (b) — conferred in 1973 after the 1971 war; Cariappa was the second (1986).
Q7. India's only operational tri-service unified theatre command is based at: (a) Udhampur (b) Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Command) (c) Mumbai (d) Visakhapatnam → (b).
Q8. A division in the Indian Army is typically commanded by an officer of which rank? (a) Brigadier (b) Major General (c) Lieutenant General (d) Colonel → (b) — a corps is led by a Lieutenant General, a brigade by a Brigadier.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
NDA/CDS defence GK reliably tests the Army's seven commands and their HQs, the rank hierarchy, the COAS vs CDS distinction, and "who appoints the Chiefs." The fresh, this-cycle hooks: the new COAS's name (Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth) and his arm (Armoured Corps). Pair with the evergreen "Field Marshals of India = Manekshaw & Cariappa" (and who was first). Expect "rank-to-formation" matching (Lt Gen → Corps, Maj Gen → Division, Brigadier → Brigade, Colonel → Battalion), the gallantry vs distinguished-service award families (PVC/MVC/Vir Chakra vs PVSM/AVSM/VSM; Ashoka/Kirti/Shaurya in peacetime), the CCS / Ministry of Defence four departments and the DMA under the CDS, the Navy's commands and the Andaman & Nicobar unified command, and the theatre-command reform as the forward-looking analytical theme. "Supreme command vests in the President — Article 53(2)" is a guaranteed factual peg.
Strengthen the constitutional side at Polity: The Executive and Constitutional Provisions.
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✍️ Written by Col D.N. Sharma — Veteran, Indian Army; SSB & defence-studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: Ministry of Defence PIB release, 13 June 2026 (PRID 2272460). Appointment details from the release; Army structure and ranks cross-verified.