The Agniveer tale The Excelsior 09 Sep 2023 The Agnipath scheme leading to induction of Agniveers into the army is now a reality. Of the 40,000 due to be inducted this year, almost half have finished their initial training and joined their units. The balance would shortly follow. As per inputs available, levels of education of the current batch have […]
Armed forces are playing a neutral role in Manipur The Statesman 22 Aug 2023 The Ipsos trustworthiness index of global armed forces of July last year, places India at the top with 64%. As per the Ipsos website this ‘reflects the confidence that people have in the integrity, bravery, and commitment to duty exhibited by armed forces members in […]
Are forces moving in the right direction The Statesman 01 Aug 2023 The Kargil war, whose anniversary was held last week with the defence minister and all service chiefs honouring those who sacrificed their lives at the war memorial in Drass, had brought to fore serious shortcomings in India’s management of defence. On 24th Jul 1999, even before the […]
How the Army is building confidence and healing wounds in Manipur TOI blog 10 Jul 2023 Images of women (Meira Paibis) gheraoing an army column to prevent them from arresting members of a known militant group, KYKL, display the complexity of the situation in Manipur as do images of thousands of innocents, internally displaced, living in army established relief camps, […]
Remodelling the medical corps The Statesman 04 Jul 2023 Theaterization is well on its way. Recent announcements indicate that to some extent the services have compromised on their demands, right or wrong, is a separate issue. Agniveers are now the order of the day as also is manpower reduction, all intended to push cost cutting. One service which has […]
Moving forward with theatre commands The Excelsior 29 Jun 2023 In recent days there have been inputs indicating that the armed forces are moving forward in their endeavour to finally create theatre commands. The steps being undertaken convey closing of few differences between the services or possibly bypassing objections from some quarters to push through reforms under political pressure. […]
Nine years of management of defence The Excelsior 07 Jun 2023 Assessment of the Modi government’s performance in the past nine years under various heads continues under discussion. In the defence sector, at the outset, the government came as a breath of fresh air, as Anthony, the UPA defence minister from 2006 to 2014, hesitated to sign procurements, fearing […]
Converting cantonments to military stations The Excelsior 09 May 2023 A government notification of 27th April stated that Yol, a cantonment in Himachal Pradesh, will be the first to be converted into a military station and civilian areas, thus far a part of the cantonment, will be merged with the local municipality. The army would exercise full control over […]
Defence budgets and capability development The Statesman 01 May 2023 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its latest report listed India as the fourth largest military spender in the world, the leaders being the US, China and Russia, who account for 56% of global defence expenditure. It claimed Indian defence expenditure increased by 6% in 2022 to […]
India’s changing security threats The Statesman 14 Feb 2023 There is a belief that a weak Pakistan is not good for India. As Pakistan weakens, its ability to contain growth of terrorist groups would also diminish, converting the region, spreading from the Indian border to Afghanistan, into a hotbed of terrorism. Pakistan currently faces much more than just an […]