PM lays foundation stone of national defence university

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today laid the foundation stone of the Indian National Defence University (INDU) at Binola, Gurgaon.

INDU would be a unique autonomous Institution of national importance.

It may be recalled that after the Kargil conflict, the government had set up a Review Committee, headed by eminent strategic expert K Subrahmanyam, which had recommended establishment of a university to exclusively deal with defence and strategic matters.

The aim of INDU would be to provide military leadership and other concerned civilian officials knowledge based higher education for management of the defence of India, and keeping them abreast with emerging security challenges through scholarly research and training.

The INDU would develop and propagate higher education in Defence Studies, Defence Management, Defence Science and Technology and promote policy oriented research related to National Defence.

The think tanks of the university would provide inputs for policy formulation. The university would prepare officers for high level leadership, Staff and Policy responsibilities. National College of Defence Studies (NCDS), Indian Institute of Defence Technology (IIDT), Indian Institute of Defence Management (IIDM) and Defence Institute of Distance and Open Learning (DIDOL) would be the constituent colleges and institutions of the INDU.

This long awaited university will be instituted by an Act of Parliament with President of India as the visitor and Defence Minister as the Chancellor.

It would be governed by its own norms and promote coordination and interaction between Armed Forces and non-Armed Forces institutions / establishments in the country. It will focus on higher education in defence studies, defence management and defence science and technology.

The university will offer post graduate studies and doctoral / post doctoral research. The present institutes of Indian Armed forces would be affiliated with it such as National Defence College (NDC) New Delhi, Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Wellington, College of Defence Management (CDM) Secunderabad and National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakwasla.

The INDU would have provisions for other defence training institutions to get affiliated for award of degrees. The university would also provide opportunities for higher studies through distance learning to interested military and civilian personnel.

The university will be headed by its President, who would be a three star serving General / equivalent officer with C-in-C status on appointment. The Vice-President will be a civilian. 66 percent of students would be from the Armed Forces, whereas 33 percent of students would be drawn from other government agencies, police and civilian. The teaching faculty will comprise of both military personnel and civilians in the ratio of 1:1. The University is being planned on the lines of IIT/IIMs.