Lt Gen Kochhar is new Signal Officer-in-chief

Zee News Friday, September 02, 2011
New Delhi: Lieutenant General S P Kochhar Thursday took over as the Signal Officer-in-Chief of the Indian Army following the retirement of Lt Gen P Mohapatra on August 31 here. Lt General Kochhar has held several important posts in his 38-year career.
As an Additional Director General (ADG) of Personnel Services at Army Headquarters, he also headed the Tri-Services Anomalies Resolution Committee to address anomalies of the Sixth Central Pay Commission.
The General Officer holds two M.Phil degrees and is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and has undergone several in-service professional courses including the National Defence College (NDC) Course and the Army’s Higher Command Course (HCC).
He is a recipient of with the Ati-Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), Sena Medal (SM) and the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM). PTI
Lt Gen Kochhar is new Signal Officer-in-chief

NDC Creates History

National Defence College, New Delhi, which is affiliated to University of Madras, recently conducted a Viva-Voce for Ph.D Degree on Defence related topic. It is for the first time a public Viva-Voce for Ph.D in Defence and Strategic Studies was conducted at any Defence institute. It was also an historic occasion for University of Madras when it conducted a Viva-Voce outside the geographical boundaries of its Jurisdiction.
National Defence College, New Delhi conducts M.Phil course under autonomous pattern and was also recognised as a research institution in 2009. Since then various research activities at NDC have been initiated. Maj Gen (Retd) GD Bakshi who was a Senior Directing Staff at National Defence College from 01 Aug 2006 to 31 May 2008, registered for his Ph.D Degree with department of Defence and Strategic Studies, University of Madras. He defended his research work publically on "Limited War Under conditions of Nuclear Symmetry: The Urgent Need for an Indian doctrine" on 09 Feb 2011 at NDC. The aspect enunciated by Gen Bakshi was debated by senior serving, retired Defence officers and experts in this field in an open Viva-Voce.
Air Marshal PK Roy, Commandant, National Defence College while congratulating Maj Gen (Retd) Bakshi exhorted the course officers to emulate Gen Bakshi's achievement. HH/Raman (Release ID :69816)
NDC Creates History

Defence will have a say too in the NSCS

The long wait in the Defence services to have a say in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) may get over soon, with Lt. Gen Prakash Menon, who is now NDC commandant, tipped to go on deputation to the NSCS. He is learnt to have a good rapport with the NSA and the grapevine has it that he may end up becoming Deputy NSA after his retirement sometime next year.
Defence will have a say too

Chennai Friday, Dec 31 2010 IST
Lt General B K Chengapa, AVSM, today relinquished his post as Commandant Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka (ATNK and K Area), on attaining superannuation. He would be succeeded by Lieutenant General Prakash Menon, AVSM, VSM, a defence release said here. Lt General Chengapa expressed his satisfaction at the achievements of the area in all fields of responsibility and complimented all ranks for their hard work. He also thanked the Governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry for their support in ensuring the welfare of serving soldiers and the veterans. Lt Gen Chengapa superannuated after 39 years of distinguished service. During his tenure, Lt Gen Chengapa made concerted effort to improve the functioning of various welfare schemes for ex-servicemen and their families like Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme and ex-servicemen canteens. With his untiring effort and interaction with State Governments, long-pending requests for land for Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme and ex-servicemen canteens were cleared by the civil administration. He was also instrumental in getting placement for ex-servicemen in private companies with his close interaction with the corporate world
Lt Gen relinquishes post

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