PM to address top military leadership; jawans to participate for 1st time

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a conference of the county's top military leadership in Gujarat's Kevadia on Saturday, which will also see the participation of jawans and junior commissioned officers (JCOs) for the first time, senior officials said.

They said the jawans and JCOs will be attending specific sessions related to human resource issues during the three-day Combined Commanders' Conference that began on Thursday.

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General M M Naravane, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and senior officials of the defence ministry and the armed forces will attend the conference.

The prime minister is expected to deliver his address on the last day of the conference on Saturday, the officials said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will also attend the conference, they noted.

The top military meet is taking place in Kevadia at a time when India and China are engaged in talks on disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh.

A border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry even as military and diplomatic-level talks continued between the two neighbours.

On February 11, the defence minister announced in Parliament that India and China had arrived at an agreement on disengagement of troops in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake, which mandates both sides to "cease" forward deployment of troops in a "phased, coordinated and verifiable" manner.