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The Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC spoke on the “Role of the Indian Army (IA) in dealing with the Contemporary National Security Challenges” during the Vimarsh series of lecture organised by VIF on 24 Feb 2021. He spoke about the developing security mosaic, how it is shapingthe Indian Army and the contribution of IA towards nation building.

General Naravane highlighted the impact of emerging technologies on the character of war. Multi Domain Operations of the adversary in the domains of space, cyber and information are also influencing our force-structuring and capability development. He informed that inter alia, evolution of Defence Cyber Agency, drone technology and long range vectors are being pursued to address these kinetic and non-kinetic means of warfare. He brought out the challenge of a finite budget on capability enhancement and the resultant need for overcoming dependence on foreign sources through innovation. He presented the highlights of the capability development road map of Indian army which is aligned with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Highlighting the need for absorbing niche technologies of AI, autonomous systems, long range precision technology, Internet of Things, 5G, quantum computing and directed energy weapons he brought out the efforts by Indian Army viz. committed procurement of indigenous systems, hand holding of indigenous industry, contracts with defence Start-ups, tie-ups with IITs and Start-up Incubation Centres and exploitation of the IDEX platform.

Regarding Internal Security, he stated that, efforts of Indian army have freed Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and large parts of Assam from insurgency. He proposed an umbrella organization called the Northeast Integrated Security Council for the North East region and detailed its proposed structure and functions. He concluded by highlighting the assistance provided to civilian authorities as well as friendly foreign countries in handling the national calamities such as Covid pandemic, oil fields fires, floods, cyclones etc.