Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday said warfare is becoming increasingly “non-kinetic and non-contact” owing to multiple factors and therefore demands a response that requires military strength, and intellectual, technological and moral preparedness.
Chanakya’s teachings remind us that the “rising powers inevitably provoke countervailing coalitions”, he said in his address at an event held at Manekshaw Centre here to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
“National security involves preparing for strategic balancing, deterrence, and resilience against these counter reactions. Herein, our opportunities are immense, the demographic dividend of the world’s youngest population, transforming technologies, and a strategic geography,” he said. Yet so, are the challenges, the Army chief added. In his keynote address, he emphasised the evolving nature of warfare and the responses needed in this scenario.
“Firstly, we have traditional rivalries and collusive threats leading to more than a half, that is more than two-and-a-half front challenges. Secondly, terrorism, proxy war, and internal threats still persist. Thirdly, and more importantly, disinformation campaigns seek to fracture our social fabric from within. “Therefore, warfare is becoming increasingly non-kinetic and non-contact. It flows through fibre cables, flickers on screens, circulates in wallets and ripples
across our classrooms. Obviously, the response demands just not arms’ strength, but intellectual, technological and moral preparedness,” General Dwivedi said.
He further said in this era of multi-domain challenges, national security and nation building are “inseparable, requiring a whole-of-nation approach”, harnessing the combined resolve of governance, industry, academia and civil society.
The Army chief said in the recent Operation Sindoor, many amongst you would have been actively involved.
Some as young military officers, some as NCC cadets, some in civil defence, some in drone labs, while some as “social media warriors”.
And, with over 65 per cent of India’s population below the age of 35 and almost 50 per cent under 25, “we are a nation of youth, a country of boundless energy, ideas, creativity and courage”, adding India’s skilled human resource is “one of our greatest instruments of power”.
In his address, he referred to the ‘Gen Z’ population of the country, which he said is the largest in the world. And though the Indian Army is the world’s second largest, so Generation Z has “beaten the Indian Army also,” he said in a lighter vein.
It stands at the centre of this “new battle space, digitally fluent, socially aware and globally connected”.
“They are India’s greatest strength if guided by discipline and direction. That is the melange of passion with purpose,” he added.
Gen Z or ‘Generation Z’ refers to the demographic group born roughly between the late 1990s and early 2010s, with birth years varying by source, such as 1996-2010 or 1997-2012.