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Indian Defence University
Context:
The lack of the Indian Defence University (IDU) is worrisome, as countries like Pakistan and China have already established theirs to boost academic standards and strategic prowess in their militaries.
Why Professional Military Education (PME)?
- The changing nature of warfare has justified the need for PME.
- In conflicts like West Asia’s, military officers must deliver results despite unclear information and swiftly changing dynamics.
- Officers are equipped to tackle complex challenges through a robust PME continuum, enhancing their capabilities to adapt to evolving roles and growing responsibilities throughout their careers.
The development of Professional Military Education (PME) in the U.S. is relevant because it resembles India’s theaterisation goals. ‘Ike’ Skelton’s report to Congress significantly reformed military education by recommending focused learning objectives, improving faculty quality, establishing a two-phase officer education system, and creating an Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, among other measures.
Slow progress
- The need for a comprehensive education system in the Indian armed forces was recognised post-independence, leading to proposals for a Defence Services University as early as 1967.
- In 2010, initial approval was granted for the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDU) in Gurgaon, based on post-Kargil conflict committee recommendations.
- Despite some positive developments, progress on establishing the IDU has been slow.
- While India’s armed forces boast world-class training institutions, they lack an integrated Professional Military Education (PME) framework and a multidisciplinary approach to strategic thinking.
- For example, Pakistan has created two universities, while China has three.
- Affiliations with universities for degree courses are seen as suboptimal.
- The proposed IDU aims to address these shortcomings by serving as a central institution for higher military learning, with a faculty comprising academics, active and retired military officers, and civil servants.
- The university’s curriculum would be diverse across its colleges and institutions, offering a range of subjects pertinent to national security and defence in both scientific and humanities disciplines.
Need for IDU
- After the establishment of the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gujarat, some experts have suggested that there may not be a need for IDU.
- However, the RRU Act does not specify education related to ‘defence’ in its objectives, nor is its curriculum focused solely on military requirements for management of war and execution of plans.
- Thus, the need of the hour is to operationalise the IDU at the earliest, so that the first building-blocks of joint warfighting can be put in place through a well-calibrated and futuristic military education curriculum.
- This will augment R & D in military warfare and along with human capital formation specialised in defence education.