Manmohan Singh Inaugurated Indian National Defence University @Gurgaon

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Indian National Defence University (INDU) at Binola, Gurgaon. INDU would be a unique autonomous Institution of national importance.

"It is a great privilege for me to join you today on this auspicious occasion of laying the foundation stone for the Indian National Defence University. This is an idea that has been long in the making and I am very happy that today we are witnessing the first step towards its becoming a reality.

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 & 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 university would prepare officers for high level leadership, Staff & 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 & 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 & non-Armed Forces institutions / establishments in the country.

It will focus on higher education in defence studies, defence management and defence science & 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 & 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% of students would be from the Armed Forces, whereas 33% of students would be drawn from other government agencies, police & 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.

In the last few years, we have added significantly to the land forces to protect our borders and inducted new equipment to increase the Army's firepower.

Our ability to service our frontiers with improved infrastructure and enhanced air mobility is considerably greater today than in the past.

We have enhanced the full spectrum of capabilities of our Air Force and are equipping it to remain at the cutting edge of technology for the decades that lie ahead. Not only are our borders stronger, our seas are also more secure.

Over the last nine years, our deterrence capabilities have also matured and have been given concrete shape. At the same time, we are better equipped today to deal with non-conventional threats, especially in the cyber and space domains. We are implementing a national architecture for cyber security and have taken steps to create an office of a national cyber security coordinator.