Rajnath to address Comdrs’ conference on Apr 2
NEW DELHI, Mar 27:
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address a conference of Army Commanders here on April 2, during which the senior military leadership will also assess the overall security situation, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Army Commanders’ Conference, the first for the year 2024 will be organised in a hybrid mode. The conference will be held in virtual mode on March 28 and thereafter in physical mode from April 1-2, the statement said.
The conference, with its wide scope, ensures the Indian Army remains progressive, forward-looking, adaptive and future-ready, it said.
It serves as a “pivotal forum for apex leadership of the Indian Army to brainstorm conceptual issues, review and assess the overall security situation”. It will lay down key priorities facilitating important policy decisions, to chart the course for future direction, officials said.
On March 28, the conference will be chaired by Army chief Gen Manoj Pande with Army Commanders participating in a virtual mode from their respective Command Headquarters, it said.
The deliberation will be on a critical agenda impacting the field Army and veterans’ welfare.
The conference will also feature talks by distinguished subject matter experts on the evolving geopolitical landscape and ramifications for national security, the officials said.
On April 1, the Army’s top leadership will engage in intensive brainstorming sessions. The sessions will be aimed at enhancing operational effectiveness, the importance of fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability and investing in training and development programmes to ensure readiness for future challenges.
The brainstorming session will also encompass issues concerning the welfare of service personnel aimed at enhancing the quality of life for soldiers and their families, they said.
This will be followed by a meeting of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Army Group Insurance, chaired by the Army chief, and attended by several experts in the field of financial management.
The committee will deliberate on various welfare measures and schemes for the financial security of serving soldiers, veterans and their families, they added.
The senior hierarchy of the Army will also be addressed by Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari, the statement said.
On April 2, the Defence Minister will deliver a keynote address at the conference. He will also interact with senior military leadership during the conference.
The event will also be attended by the Defence Secretary and other senior officials from the Ministry of Defence.
Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the nearly four-year border row with China in eastern Ladakh, Army chief General Manoj Pande on Wednesday said the Indian Army’s preparedness levels are of a “very high order” and the force is keeping a “very close watch” on developments across the border.
In response to questions asked during a panel discussion at Times Now Summit here, General Pande also said he believed that it was “only through talks” that one can find resolution of the balance issues that are currently at hand.
The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area.
The ties between the two countries nose-dived significantly following the clash in the Galwan valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
“We are prepared in every manner. Our levels of operational readiness, operational preparedness is of a very high order. In terms of our deployments along the entire length of 3,488 km (LAC) of our borders, I would say is both robust as well as balance. We have also ensured that we have adequate reserves in terms of dealing with contingencies… We have our response mechanism firmly in place,” General Pande said.
He was asked how well is the Indian Army prepared in the backdrop of the eastern Ladakh border standoff.
“We have talks at two levels. One is at the military level, at the level of our Corps Commanders, we have had 21 rounds of talks. At the diplomatic level, where we have the mechanism, WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs,” he said, adding several rounds of WMCC talks have taken place post the event of mid-2020.
The 28th meeting of WMCC was held on November 30, 2023.
“It is my belief that only through talks you will find resolution of the balance issues that are currently at hand. While these talks are progressing, we are also focusing on capability development along our northern borders, of which technology infusion, modernisation are important,” the Army chief said.
General Pande said the Army is also focusing on infrastructure development and “I believe, we are moving in the right direction”.
“Our preparedness levels are of a very high order and we are keeping a very close watch on developments and what is happening across the border,” he added.
Asked to quantify the threat perception from China, General Pande said from time to time “we keep reviewing threats”. So, threat during the winter months may be slightly different from what it may be during the summer months, he added.
“Just as our western adversary, with respect to our northern adversary, I would only say, our preparedness level is of a very high order,” the Army chief asserted.
On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he underlined the Army formations deployed in the UT, both in hinterland and along the LoC in counter-infiltration grid.
“There are attempts at infiltration, which are continuing both in the Valley region as to the south of the Pir Panjal region. But we have a very robust and effective counter-infiltration grid which has proven successful,” he said.
On criticism surrounding the Agnipath scheme, General Pande said it was a “transformational” change or reform that “we undertook in the past so many years”.
The feedback received from the units is “extremely encouraging, extremely positive”, General Pande said, adding cynicism as to what will happen to the Agniveers after four years is “misplaced”. (PTI)
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