CENJOWS Inaugural Meet To Be Held In New Delhi
Dated 11/1/2008
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The Advisory Board of the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) meets for the first time here tomorrow. The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony will be delivering the inaugural address and also launch the centre’s website.
The CENJOWS was set up last year following a recommendation of the Group of Ministers who went into the need for reforms after the Kargil conflict (Op Vijay) that emphasized on the need to create integrative synergy in our procedures and executive Institutions. Their report recommended the urgent need to move away from our historical fixations and circumvent the inertia of the status quo. The Ministry of Defence approved the establishment of the Centre and it has also been registered under the 'Societies Registration Act 1860’. The Centre was inaugurated by the then Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee General JJ Singh on 27 Aug 07 at the Kashmir House, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi.
The CENJOWS seeks to be an enabler of Jointness and Integration at all levels and throughout the National Power Matrix. Military is just the baseline on which the superstructure has to be built.
The unipolar orientation of the world allows India to be in a unique position of a State with choices and opportunities. As an important part of the Asian continent towards which the centricity of global interests is shifting, India needs to move out of her historical fixations. As a nation with a capability to swing power equations, India not only needs to define her friends and foes but also has to reorient herself towards global leadership and in the process graduate from the existing Third World focus. Technology and globalisation are delivering their advantages but are also accompanied by increased level of uncertainties. This demands additional security assurances based on capabilities and not merely threat defrayment. The India National Power, therefore, needs to seek greater impact and reach. The quest for increased relevance can succeed only if there is Jointness and Integration amongst the constituents of National Power. While all elements of National Power and decision matrix exist in the country, there is a lack of synergy amongst the components. We need to reassess the processes of connecting the dots to create a synergistic whole. This is more so, when, increased unit cost of capabilities demands partnership in development as well as exploitation.
Procedures and structures are mere tools of change. Transformation has to be empowered through changed attitudes. Mental pre-dispositions towards the comfort zone of the status quo can be corrected only if change is brought about through National Will. For this graduation to current realties there is a need for debate at multiple platforms. Creative research needs to support the change and the demystification process has to leveraged with the assistance of all formats of Indian media.
