India's first defence university to come up near Delhi

New Delhi: Drawing lessons from the 1999 Kargil conflict, the government on Thursday decided to set up the first defence university in the country to enable holistic study of defence and strategic security challenges.

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accorded "in principle" approval to set up the Indian National Defence University (INDU) near Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here.

To be established at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore, the university would come up on a 200 acre land at Binola in Gurgaon, Haryana. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for acquisition of the land.

The existing defence educational institutions like the National Defence College in New Delhi, College of Defence Management at Secunderabad, National Staff College at Wellington and National Defence Academy in Pune, would be affiliated to INDU. At present, these institutions are attached to various universities.

"INDU will undertake long-term defence and strategic studies and create synergy between the academic community and government functionaries," Soni said.

The proposed university, which would be fully autonomous and constituted under an Act of Parliament, would promote policy-oriented research on all aspects of national security as part of the strategic national policy-making, she said.

"It will encourage awareness of national security issues by reaching out to scholars and an audience beyond the official machinery," Soni said.

INDU would educate national security leaders on all aspects of national strategies in the fields of security, military, information and technology, through teaching and research, she added.

After the Kargil conflict, the government had set up a Review Committee, headed by eminent strategic expert K Subrahmanyam, which had recommended establishment of such a university to exclusively deal with defence and strategic matters.

The Committee had also recommended finding of ways and means to integrate the academic community, armed forces, paramilitary forces, intelligence agencies and the bureaucracy in strategic security policy making and related issues. Source: PTI
India's first defence university to come up near Delhi

Ex- Servicemen Army's Ambassadors

Maj Gen AJS Sandhu (4th from left), Brig RS Mathur, President RWA (5th from left) and the author, amongst others
Tremendous good work is done by the Indian Army in different fields, such as border guarding, counter-Insurgency operations, providing aid to the civil authority and succor to flood relief and earthquake-hit people have won considerable goodwill and accolades from all sections of society throughout the country.

Another area where ex-servicemen have carved out a niche for themselves is in the field of improving the standard of living in various segments of society. Where civilian office bearers have failed to make any headway, particularly those dealing with local government agencies responsible for basic infrastructure and security, ex-servicemen have proved to be far more effective. This positive trend seems to be spreading to various rural and urban centres throughout India as well.

Today, ex- servicemen have also made inroads into various village panchayats, decision-making bodies, civic agencies and numerous resident welfare associations (RWAs). While their inroads into the last category are a recent development, it is proving to be very effective.

Take the case of Gurgaon, where basic infrastructure and security related problems are persistent. With the induction of ex servicemen in the RWAs, there is an overall improvement in these core areas. The reason is that ex-servicemen are highly experienced visionaries, dynamic and positive in attitude. Whenever they encounter any obstruction at the lower level, they by-pass minor opposition and contact the higher office bearers in the state to resolve issues. Such spontaneous reaction to various situations has been well appreciated by the corporate world, and today the demand for ex- servicemen is on the rise.
Col Anil Shorey (Retd)
Ex- Servicemen Army's Ambassadors