General Seth takes over as Army Chief
PVSM, UYSM, AVSM General Dhiraj Seth takes over as the 31st Chief of the Army Staff, of the Indian Army, succeeding General Upendra Dwivedi, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (@adgpi X/ANI Photo)
General Dhiraj Seth, today took over as the 31st Chief of the Indian Army Staff, replacing General Upendra Dwivedi, who superannuated after more than four decades of service. General Dhiraj Seth, is from the Armoured Corps and was commissioned in December 1986. It is the first time in more than three decades that an Armoured Corps officer will become the Army Chief. The last Armoured Corps officer as was General Roy Chowdhury who retired in September 1997. Gen Seth has had extensive experience across the operational, strategic, capability development and institutional domains, contributing significantly to the Indian Army’s combat effectiveness and long-term transformation. Meanwhile with Gen Seth, becoming Army Chief, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain the Southern Army Commander will replace him as the Vice Chief of the Army. General Seth is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. The General Officer has commanded at every level in diverse operational environments. His command assignments include an Armoured Regiment in the Desert Sector, an Armoured Brigade in the Western Theatre, and a Counter-Insurgency Force in Jammu & Kashmir. As a Lieutenant General, he commanded the South Western Command and the Southern Command – both tasked westwards. It is rare to command two operational Army Commands. He provided strategic oversight across critical theatres for over a period of two and half years. He has held several key staff and strategic appointments that have significantly influenced operational planning, force management and capability development.
India records 483 new faunal species first time, Kerala tops the chart
According to Animal Discoveries–2025 released by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) on Tuesday marking its 111th foundation day, India has recorded 483 species of which 226 species were recorded for the first time in the country. 709 new faunal (animal) records added to the national biodiversity database. ZSI has been collecting data on faunal discoveries in India since 2007 and publishing them as a document entitled “Animal Discoveries- New Species and New Records" every year. With these additions, India’s documented faunal diversity has reached 1,05,953 species, reaffirming its status as one of the world’s leading megadiverse nations.
Among the States, Kerala recorded the highest number of new species (98), followed by West Bengal (76), Karnataka (67) and Arunachal Pradesh (65). In 2024, Kerala recorded the maximum number of species. The ZSI report documented 683 species in that year. While 459 were globally new, the remaining 224 were recorded for the first time in India. In 2022 and 2023, 641 and 631 species were recorded respectively.
‘Plant Discoveries 2025’ is the nineteenth edition of the series which added 353 new plant species to the Indian Flora during 2025. Out of 353 taxa, 339 species and 14 infraspecific taxa are new to Indian flora. A total of 221 taxa are new to science and 132 taxa are new distributional records from India.
The Union Minister Bhupender Yadav also launched the PaleoIndia Portal, jointly developed by ZSI and the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, using geological datasets from the Geological Survey of India (GSI). The digital platform documents fossil fauna across all 28 States and 8 Union Territories and currently hosts information on more than 5,000 fossil specimens spanning mammals, reptiles, birds, fishes, amphibians, molluscs, arthropods, foraminifera, echinoderms and ichnofossils. Equipped with a real-time data upload system, the portal will facilitate field-based documentation as well as citizen science participation.
Haryana, Punjab & Chandigarh among top 5 in criminal law rankings
Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh are among the top five states & UTs which are currently leading the nationwide ranking of the new criminal laws, two years after these came into force on July 1, 2024. Sources said Haryana, Goa, Assam, Punjab and Chandigarh have topped on the basis of four key parameters of administrative reforms, operational efficiency, ICT application and integration – which need to be complied with under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) rankings.
The four parameters under the BNS rankings hold weightage of 20 per cent (administrative reforms), 45 per cent (operational efficiency), 25 per cent (ICT application) and 10 per cent (integration), respectively.
The national average as in June 2026 stood at 70 per cent in the country; it was 46.47 per cent in November 2025. Sources said the abovementioned states and the UT currently are above the national average. Certain states are lagging owing to network issues, mainly in the northeastern parts of the country, which has hampered their rankings. However, the sources said 23 of the 36 states and UTs were above the national average of 70 per cent. All states are competing with each other to meet the four parameters and improve their rankings.
Moreover, they further said by January 1, 2027, most of the states were expected to achieve digital integration within police, prison, forensic, prosecution and court – which are the five foundational pillars of India’s criminal justice system that operate under the umbrella of the Inter-operable criminal justice system, which is integrated with the country’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). The three new criminal laws — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — came into effect from July 1, 2024, replacing the colonial era laws, namely IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act, respectively.
