On IndIa's mIlItary: WrItIngs frOm WIthIn

The Round Table

This article gives an overview of the state of the Indian military by assessing its overall performance, current debates, and future challenges. While doing so it covers three main subjects-the role of the military in nation-building, contemporary challenges, and defence reforms. This covers a wide range of issues, from the military's historical role-in wars and domestic counter-insurgencies, current threats, and missions to preparing for the future. In the penultimate section, it describes debates on defence reforms and military transformation triggered by the creation in 2019 of the post of Chief of Defence staff. It concludes with an overview of state-military relations and identifies some areas for future research.

2011

Democratization , 2020

In this first of two volumes, Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam offers excellent and concise histories of India's wars and military operations, starting with the rescue and partial liberation of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947-48 from depredating Pakistani irregulars and ending with the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan's genocidal rule. Based on published material available, and supplementing it with interviews, Subramaniam's India's Wars provides a layered perspective on the strategic, operational and tactical aspects of these wars and operations. While one agrees to a great extent with what the book has to say about the various land, air and naval campaigns, there are inevitable differences in perspectives, interpretations and nuances on specific issues. To begin with, Subramaniam observes that officers and personnel of the Indian National Army (INA) were not integrated in the post-independent Indian military because of a quid pro quo between British and Indian leaders: the British would treat INA personnel on trial leniently in return for Indian leaders not integrating them into the Indian Army. This is a false linkage...

Our Freedom movement was enriched by the thoughts and ideas of a number of individuals who wanted to explore various paths and possibilities for a way to independence.

Colonial armies unquestionably proved the most durable of all the institutions left behind by the British and French empires. Most postcolonial states (with the notable exception of India) have spent time under military rule. Governments have fallen and states have collapsed , but armies have rarely disintegrated during de-colonization. Daniel Marston's careful study looks at a period when the British Indian Army was deeply strained by defeat and yet held together during extreme turmoil. Even more strikingly, it remained cohesive in the face of a partition of its own ranks between India, Pakistan, and a residual British Empire. He argues that the army's role in " preventing total societal breakdown during the transfer of power has generally been overlooked or underestimated " (p. 5). This story is clearly and effectively told and contains much rich detail and telling anecdotes. Marston has also done the historical profession a service by interviewing a large number of veterans before they and their memories are lost to history.

Armed Forces & Society