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Field Marshal Manekshaw memorial lecture

April 2, 2010
A Memorial Lecture to celebrate the 96th Birth Anniversary of Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw was orgainsed jointly by the Vivekananda International Foundation and Indian Military Review, a defence magazine launched in January 2010, at VIF auditorium today. Field Marshal Manekshaw was the Chief of the Army Staff who led the army to achieve the most decisive victory in recent times, when the Pakistan Army was defeated in 14 days and over 93,000 Pakistanis were taken prisoners. Manekshaw showed uncommon ability to motivate the forces. The Bangladesh Campaign was a classic Tri-Service blitzkrieg that for the first time after World War II led to the formation of a new state with the force of arms.

Delivering the Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw memorial lecture on “Challenges to India’s Internal Security”, Lt Gen (Retd) A S Kalkat of IPKF fame said that the legal, economic and social ‘rules’ in society constitute an essential part of the societal environment. This environment supports the growth of certain organizations, groups and structures while at the same time putting others at a disadvantage. Lt Gen Kalkat, SYSM, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, also dwelled on the changed environment after 9/11 saying it was clear that the definition of national security was not necessarily common for all states and highlighted the reality that in an inter-dependent world security cannot be achieved at the cost of others. “National Security is a function of a country’s external and internal environment and their interplay. While the external environment is influenced by major features of prevailing international order and the disposition of its immediate and extended neighborhood, the internal situation is a function of many aspects of ‘national life’, ‘culture’, ‘cohesiveness’, ‘economic fundamentals’ and ’quality of governance’.

Former Army Chief Gen (Retd) V N Sharma, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, was the Chief Guest at the function. Gen Sharma, who is on the advisory board of the Vivekananda International Foundation, also gave his perspective of India’s internal security challenges in his concluding remarks. Maj Gen (Retd) RK Arora introduced the topic of the Memorial Lecture and the speaker.

The lecture was attended by a large number of senior officials from the civil and military societies. A two-minute silence was observed to pay tributes to Lt Gen (Retd) V K Sood, PVSM and AVSM, who died in late March 2010.