Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), an independent New Delhi based think tank, is conducting a two-day Seminar on the theme of “Civil Military Integration: The Way Forward”, at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantt. The Seminar opened today with discussions on the role of Military and Bureaucracy in adopting Whole of Nation approach to tackle security challenges. General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Defence Staff and General Manoj Pande, Chief of the Army Staff addressed the gathering at the commencement of the proceedings. During his address, the CDS highlighted the pivotal role played by the Armed Forces as part of ‘Whole of Government’ approach towards National security. He emphasised that all defence initiatives should be aligned to draw mutual benefits from Government schemes like Aatmanirbharta, Vibrant Border Villages, Gati Shakti, National Logistics Policy to achieve higher defence preparedness.

Delivering the Key Note Address, the Army Chief spoke on the importance of synergy to correctly assess threats, articulate vital strategic guidelines and documents, identify the desired military capabilities, formulate enabling policies, achieve the required preparedness metric and effect appropriate responses, congruent to overall National Security objectives.

The event is being attended by distinguished participants from Armed Forces, Civil Services, as well as representatives from the defence industry and the academic community, including several think tanks and educational institutions. During the course of deliberations today, many eminent speakers discussed nuances of Bureaucracy-Military integration, a subject of great relevance to India’s comprehensive growth as a Nation. Diverse and useful views were shared by Ajay Kumar, former Defence Secretary, Lt General Anil Puri, Additional Secretary, DMA, Dr Manoj Joshi, ORF, Dr Anit Mukherjee of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF, Lt General Raj Shukla (Retd), Member UPSC and Lt General Vinod Khandare, Principal Adviser, MoD.

The second day of this seminar is being dedicated on the discussions pertaining to Military Industry integration, which requires synchronisation of the interests of the indigenous defence industry with the operational requirements of the Armed Forces, through collaborative engagement. Eminent speakers for tomorrow’s discussions include senior officers of the three Services, Air Marshal Anil Chopra (Retd), DG Centre for Airpower Studies, Lt General P.R. Shankar, former DG Artillery, Rajinder Singh Bhatia, President, Bharat Forge Defence and Aerospace, Dr Bhartendu Kumar Singh, Indian Defence Account Services and Rear Admiral Pritam Lal (Retd), Principal Advisor Confederation of Indian Industries and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers.