Military Mind

EXPEDITIONARY CAPABILITIES : A MUST Lt Gen Rajiv Bhalla In a recent interaction with the media, General Bipin Rawat, the CDS mentioned that the Indian Armed Forces are not an Expeditionary Force [1]  and therefore could do with a reduced budget.  In his words,  “Military planners should not be pretending that India’s military was playing a global role. We are not Expeditionary Forces that have to deploy around the globe. We have to guard and fight only along our borders and of course, dominate the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).” [2] The Statement can be read in the backdrop of budgetary cuts that might take place due to the Pandemic crisis. This is probably the first time that Indian Armed Forces have been contextualised with the Expeditionary Forces by a serving four-star General. An ‘Expeditionary Force’ as per the Collins dictionary is a “group of soldiers who are sent to fight in a foreign country”. The term was most commonly used during the two World Wars and has been us...

CDS: GETTING THE PRIORITIES RIGHT  Lt Gen Rajiv Bhalla The announcement of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by Prime Minster Modi in the course of his Independence Day address to the nation, which came after a long gap post the recommendation by the Group of Ministers (GOM) in their Report in May 2001, provided immense solace to the Armed Forces fraternity. It was amongst the foremost recommendations, not only by the GOM as also by the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee of Experts. It had long been a perception amongst the Defence Services that HQ IDS was incomplete without a CDS and this appointment would curtail the inter-service differentials. The CDS would also help the services to achieve synergy, which would be the winning factor in a technologically advanced battlefield in a two-front scenario.  The announcement of the retiring Army Chief to become the first CDS did not surprise many as he was a strong contender with his proactive media approach and skillful handling of the sensiti...

COVID - 19 : Impact on Military Training Lt Gen Rajiv Bhalla The COVID pandemic has forced the military to terminate all activities being done collectively with special reference to training courses being conducted at various Institutions. While the field training can still continue to a limited extent, the individual training at these Centres of Excellence has been adversely hit. The tight schedule and timelines for training individuals for one of the largest armies are generally drawn up well in advance and any disruption impacts the future training schedules for the next set of individuals. As the threat of corona virus is not likely to go away in the near future, it is imperative to re-evaluate the training procedures in the military to avoid any loss of time on training of future leaders. The training Directorates / Cs-in –C of all the Services have a lot on their hands to retain the annual numbers being trained despite the unprecedented lockdown and restrictions in place. It is w...

The Migrants of Incredible India Lt Gen Rajiv Bhalla The Hon’ble PM ‘s announcement of the lockdown with effect from 25 th March 2020 came as much of a surprise as it was for demonetisation in Nov 2016. The extreme short notice for demonetisation was clearly understood and accepted by the population, but retrospectively, the sudden imposition of lockdown seems to be an hasty   decision as it left thousands of people stranded. The parliament session and probably other advisories may have been the key factors for delay in announcement of the lockdown without a lead time. The lockdown decision though very significant and urgently needed for a populated country like India, could however have been announced earlier with a lead time of 10 -12 days for people to decide to stay or shift as per their convenience. The extreme short notice instructions caused unthinkable misery to a very large section of the population, especially the poor, who leave their homes for seeking better opportun...