New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday took stock of the country’s security situation and operational readiness with top military commanders, and directed them towards integration and continued preparedness to deal with threats.
With the theme of ‘Ready, Resurgent, Relevant’, deliberations at the Combined Commanders’ Conference, which began Thursday, covered a varied spectrum of issues including on national security and evolving a “joint military vision” for the future.
Modi chaired the valedictory session of the conference at the headquarters of the 21 Strike Corps based in Bhopal Saturday. He was briefed by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan about the various discussions conducted during this year’s conference, which is attended by commanders from all the three services — army, navy and air force — besides the tri-service commands.
“Modi complimented the armed forces for their role in nation building and providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assistance to friendly countries,” read a statement issued by the defence ministry.
The PM also called upon the three services to stay ready to deal with “these new and emerging threats”, emphasising that all steps are being taken to equip the armed forces with necessary weapons and technologies.
Asked what these new threats are, sources in the security establishment said he was talking about non-traditional threats like cyber, space and information warfare.
Sources also said that the prime minister emphasised the need to have a more integrated approach to warfighting.
The Narendra Modi government has been pushing for theatre commands, a process that is being led by the CDS.
However, the process that was initiated by the country’s first CDS, late Gen Bipin Rawat, is still a work in progress with the three services yet to get on the same page when it comes to specific nuances of the “theaterisation” of the Indian military.
ThePrint was the first to report way back in June 2021 that the “theaterisation” process, which was to be initiated that year, will be delayed.
While the conference began Thursday, Saturday’s discussions included topics related to aspects of digitisation, cyber security, challenges of social media, Aatmanirbharta, absorption of Agniveers and jointness among the three services.
Incidentally, while this was a conference for commanders, a few multi-layered and interactive sessions were conducted with participation of soldiers from every command of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force, including the Tri-Services Andaman and Nicobar Command.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)