Strategic Leadership and Perspective Planning Workshop by VIF, Army War College and IIM, Indore

The VIF in collaboration with Army War College/Army Training Command and IIM Indore organised a "Strategic Leadership and Perspective Planning" capsule for three days from 24 to 26 November 2021 at the VIF in physical mode. There were 16 to 18 recently approved Lt. Gens who attended the programme. Over a period of three days, in addition to the military aspects of strategic leadership and perspective planning they were exposed to strategic environment confronting India. Speakers from IIM, Indore dwelled on communication and management issues.

The opening address was given by Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla, GOC-in-C ARTRAC after lunch on 24 Nov 2021. This was followed by opening/welcome remarks by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director VIF. He welcomed and introduced Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog who delivered the inaugural address on the topic of “Near and Mid-Term Prospects of Indian Economy - Global & Domestic Aspects”. Thereafter, there was an active Q & A session. The second and third sessions were devoted to “Thoughts on Military Leadership” by GOC-in-C Northern Command and “Human Resource Challenges” by the Military Secretary respectively.

On 25 Nov 2021 after an initial presentation by the Adjutant General on “India Army: Issues of Concern and Mitigating Measures” the balance of the day was largely devoted to geo-strategic environment and the way forward for India. First presentation on geostrategic developments was given by Sh. S Gurumurthy, Chairman VIF. He spoke on “Global Scan: Post Covid-19”. Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF delivered the opening/welcome remarks. The second session was on “Strategic and Military Calculus Post US Exit from Afghanistan”. This was in the shape of panel discussion moderated by Lt. Gen. Ravi Sawhney, Distinguished Fellow, VIF. The other experts on the panel were Amb Jayant Prasad, Amb Arun K Singh, Amb PS Raghavan and Amb Amar Sinha. The third session was on “Quad: Desirabilities/Possibilities”; this was again in the shape of panel discussion which moderated by Dr. Arvind Gupta and expert panel included Amb Kanwal Sibal, Vice Adm Satish Soni and Amb Anil Wadhwa. The next and final session under the aegis of the VIF was on “Sino-Indian Relations: Competition and Conflict Post Galwan”. The panel discussion was moderated by Amb Ashok Kantha (former ambassador to China) and the other experts were Lt. Gen Rakesh Sharma, Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli and Mr. Jayadeva Ranade.

On the last day of the capsule i.e. 26 Nov 2021, first session was on “Leadership of Thought and Change” which was taken by GOC-in-C ARTRAC. Rests of the three sessions were on “Visionary Leadership”, “Conflict Management and Complex Negotiations” and “Communication and Persuasion”. These lectures cum discussions were conducted by Dr. Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore. In the concluding session GOC-in-C ARTRAC appreciated the efforts of the speakers, VIF and IIT Indore in making the event successful. He also thanked the participants of the workshop for their contribution and vigorous participation in the interactive sessions.