New Delhi: India’s military think tanks need greater intellectual autonomy without compromising on basic protocols, and should not have to seek support from industry or foreign sources, former Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan (Retd) said.
Speaking at ThePrint Off the Cuff Saturday, Chauhan, who retired at the end of May after an extended tenure in the country’s top military post, said that one of the initiatives he had pursued as CDS was a government-approved funding boost of Rs 5 crore for think tanks affiliated with India’s Army, Navy, Air Force and the tri-services establishment. The initiative is now nearing completion, he added.
“I always thought that the backbone of the armed forces should be the development of a strategic culture among all of us. So, we wanted our think tanks to have autonomy and their own funding, government funding at that. They should not be looking for funds from outside, from industry or foreign sources,” General Chauhan said.
The former CDS also advocated greater civilian participation in India’s military education system. He said instruction at institutions, such as the National Defence College, War Colleges and Staff Colleges, is currently handled entirely by military officers drawing on operational experience, rather than by academics with formal expertise in strategic studies. He contrasted this with countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, where career academics play a larger role in military education.
