New Delhi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has urged the strategic community to help strengthen the country’s security environment by research with a scientific temper.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Institute for Defence and Strategic Analyses (IDSA) August 8, he lauded the half a century old Institute for providing significant inputs to the Government as required periodically, stressing that its contributions were particularly important in the current scenario of challenges that India faced from some in its neighbourhood despite the Prime Minister’s initiatives for good relations with them.
IDSA was set up as a Think Tank on 11 November 1965 by the Ministry of Defence, which provides it bulk of the funding. It is governed by an Executive Council (EC) drawn from eminent personalities in the Civil and Military Services, Academia and Media. The Defence Minister is the EC President, and appropriately, he was elected to that position by the AGM.
IDSA Director General Ambassador Sujan Chinoy briefed the Minister about the research activities at the Institute, and in response, while addressing the AGM, Mr Rajnath Singh said that the security studies should be broader than the three dimensions of Land, Air and Sea to five dimensions, covering Cyber and Space as well.
Security is about newer technologies, the Minister observed, pointing out that while the Government is doing the needful in this regard for the armed forces, the Ministry of Defence would encourage IDSA to enhance its research activities. He promised adequate funding.
