CDS Gen Anil Chauhan Affirms India’s Role as ‘Vishwa Bandhu’ at Foreign Service Attaches Conclave

Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has stated that India’s position is of a ‘Vishwa Mitra’ and a ‘Vishwa Bandhu’ in the global world order. He was addressing a conclave for Foreign Service Attaches (FSAs) hosted by the Defence Intelligence Agency of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff at New Delhi on 18 Sep 2024. The CDS articulated the importance of Military Diplomacy, wherein the FSAs have a pivotal role to play.

“In the most violent decade since World War II, there is a growing propensity amongst nations to use force to contain conflicts. The growing uncertainty and insecurity is leading nations to renew their National Security Strategy and increase expenditure on Defence”, the CDS said while highlighting four distinct areas of India’s Defence viz operational preparedness, modernisation, transformation and indigenisation. He emphasised the significance of Data Centric Warfare and the role of Artificial Intelligence in revolutionising warfare. The CDS gave an insight into India’s Atmanirbharta for defence capability development and strategic autonomy.

Director General Defence Intelligence Agency (DG DIA) Lt Gen DS Rana apprised the FSAs that India’s Defence Diplomacy was expanding steadily in terms of the nature of activities as well as geographic coverage wherein security cooperation was a key component. He highlighted the vision of Atmanirbharta and indigenization in Defence and implored upon FSAs to gain first-hand experience in modernisation programmes.

A holistic overview of India’s strategic perspective was given to the FSAs by Defence Subject Matter Experts. Lt Gen Raj Shukla (Retd) spoke on ‘India’s National Security: Challenges & Opportunities’, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd) deliberated upon ‘Indo-Pacific Region Competition, Cooperation & Challenges’ and Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma (Retd) gave insights on ‘Grey Zone Warfare and Impact on Security Dynamics’.