Beginning Monday, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh will be confabulating with his six commanders and his own senior principal staff officers (PSOs) on how the Indian Army will conduct its business of looking after itself and standing in ‘eternal vigil’ for the country.
On agenda, key issues are – automation profile of the Army, in-service training of junior commissioned officers (JCOs), revision of terms and conditions of the short-service commission, etc. Important presentations will be made by the Training Command, Quarter Master General, Master General Ordnance and Engineer-in-Chief, besides various command headquarters and some PSOs like deputy chief of staff.
The main topics of automation profile of the Army include e-governance, online railway reservation for all ranks and file, setting up central and regional data centres and others that will be flagged off by the Signals Officer-in-Chief, Lt Gen Nitin Kohli.
The in service training of the JCOs will be a major topic of discussion as the profile of soldiers and junior leaders are changing. An army that drew its strength from the farming community – less literate – jawans, NCOs and JCOs, these days, are coming in with a better education. Thus, their handling requires appealing to their intellect.
The commanders will also take note of the current security situation of the country. They will focus on strategies to make the country more secure.
On Tuesday, the participants of the commanders’ conference will meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and senior officials of the ministry. The commanders’ conference will be held on April 22-23. A major issue to be discussed at the Army commanders’ conference will be the ‘management of defence land.’
It may be recalled that the issue was controversial that felled a military secretary – one of the most important PSOs of the COAS – a few years ago. The vast tracts of land the Army holds in prime real estate areas makes their ‘management’ a crucial task.