Advisory Board

General Ved Prakash Malik, PVSM, AVSM, ADC

Former Chief of the Army Staff

Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC

Former Chief of the Naval Staff

DT Joseph

Former Union Secretary, Ministry of Shipping

Vice Admiral John C De Silva, PVSM, AVSM

Former Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Director General, Coast Guard

Air Marshal S. Bhojwani, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC

Former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command Indian Air Force

Vice Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva, UYSM, VSM

Former Commandant, National Defence College and former Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, Information Warfare & Operations

Ajai Raj Sharma

Former Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) and former Police Commissioner, Delhi

Major General Shankar Krishna Murthy, VSM

Former Additional Director General, Tactical Communications and Former Chief Signals Officer of Command

Commander AJB Singh  

Ex-Indian Navy and previous organiser of DefExpo and Aero-India exhibitions

Profile

General Ved Prakash Malik, PVSM, AVSM, ADC Former Chief of the Army Staff

General Ved Prakash Malik assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 19th Chief of Army Staff, on 30 September 1997. He was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry in 1959 and later commanded the 10th Sikh LI on the Indo-China border and played an active role in counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland from 1974 to 1977.

He served as Deputy Director General of Military Operations from 1987 to 1990 during which he dealt with operational plans for the defence of northern borders as also two international operations - IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) operations in Sri Lanka and Operation Cactus in Maldives. In mid-1989, he was appointed GOC-in-C of the 8th Mountain Division which was initially deployed in counter-insurgency operations in NEFA (North East Frontier Agency).

He also held the office of Additional Director General of Operational Logistics, at Army HQ from 1991 to mid-1992. Along with operational responsibility of the Indo-Pak border, he commanded XI Corps in Punjab from August 1992 till March 1994 during which he oversaw anti-militant operations. In July 1995, he was appointed GOC-in-C Southern Command before being shifted to Army HQ in New Delhi as the Vice-Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) in August 1996.

General Malik assumed the charge of Indian Army on 30 September 1997 and concurrently with the appointment, he took over as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee with effect from 01 January 1999. He coordinated and oversaw the planning & execution of Operation Vijay to successfully defeat Pakistan's attempted intrusion in the Kargil sector during May to July 1999.

General now retired, keeps himself engaged spreading awareness and sharing his views on India's national security challenges and international relations, in India and abroad. He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) for two years. Currently, he is an independent director on the board of some well-known private sector companies and advisor to various foundations and trusts. He has authored and edited various defence related books and has written chapters and articles for several other security-related books.

Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC Former Chief of the Naval Staff

Admiral Arun Prakash joined the National Defence Academy as a Naval Cadet at the age of 16, on being commissioned into the Indian Navy in1966, he decided to specialize in aviation, and qualified as an aircraft carrier pilot on the Sea Hawk jet fighter from the deck of INS Vikrant in 1968. As a naval pilot, he served in four air squadrons, where he flew a variety of aircraft ranging from fighters to multi-engine reconnaissance aircraft. He has commanded two Naval Air Squadrons, and the Naval Air Station INS Hansa. While in command of 300 Indian Naval Air Squadron, he supervised the conversion and operational training of the crew on the Sea Harrier fighter, popularly known as the "jump jet" in the United Kingdom in 1983, and flew the aircraft back to India. He has flown over 2500 hours on 16 types of fixed wing aircraft, as well as helicopters.

While at sea, he served on a variety of ships, and commanded the missile boat INS Chatak, the frigates INS Beas and INS Vindhyagiri, and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat. As a Rear Admiral, he served on the staff in Naval Headquarters, and then went on to command the Eastern Fleet, based in Vishakhapatnam. On promotion to Vice Admiral, he was Commandant, National Defence Academy and Chief of Personnel at Naval Headquarters. In October 2001, he was appointed the first Commander-in-Chief of the newly created Unified Andaman & Nicobar Command in Port Blair, and subsequently took over as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command in Mumbai.

After a brief spell, as the Vice Chief, he took over as the 20th Chief of the Indian Navy Staff in July 2004. Admiral Prakash is a graduate of the IAF Test Pilots School, the Defence Services Staff College and the United States Naval War College. As a young Lieutenant, he served with an IAF fighter squadron flying Hunters in Punjab, and was awarded the Vir Chakra for gallantry in air action over West Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

DT Joseph Former Union Secretary Ministry of Shipping

DT Joseph was the Director-General of Shipping, Government of India from 1999 to 2003. He succeeded in making chartering guidelines for ships in March 2000, and simplified Articles of Agreement for sailors. He also liberalised Maritime Training and Education, and threw it open for private enterprise. He also worked as Secretary (Co-ordination), Cabinet Secretariat at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and for three years, he served as Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways for the Government of India and dealt with major ports, shipping, shipbuilding, and inland water transport. As Secretary Shipping, he helped in processing the tonnage tax option to shipowners and prepared the Maritime Policy and the National Maritime Development Programme. Thereafter, he acted as adviser to the same ministry and was appointed Chairman of Pay Revision Committee for Class I and Class II officers in Major Port Trusts and Dock Labour Boards of India. He was elected President in the International Maritime Organization in February 2004 for the Plenary Conference in which marine pollution through ballast water exchange was considered, and the Convention adopted. He also pursued the concept of protection for trade from the ocean transportation intermediaries, and got a draft bill prepared on the Shipping Trade Practices Bill for the approval of Government.

Vice Admiral John C De Silva, PVSM, AVSM Former Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Director General, Coast Guard

Vice Admiral John C De Silva joined the National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla in July 1960 and was commissioned into the Indian Navy in January, 1965. He held many important operational and staff appointments during 36 years of an illustrious career. He is a gunnery specialist from UK and had undergone Naval Warfare Course in USA during 1984-85. His afloat command assignments included command of missile vessels INS Sindhudurg and INS Vijaydurg, and Guided Missile Destroyer, INS Ranvijay. He was instrumental in setting up the Warship Workup Organisation of the Indian Navy in 1982. His prominent shore assignments included appointments as Chief Instructor of Gunnery School at Kochi, Joint Director of Combat Policy and Tactics. Among the other important assignments held by him were Director Naval Intelligence, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Director General-Coast Guard and Vice Chief of Naval Staff.

Air Marshal S. Bhojwani, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, ADC Former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command Indian Air Force

Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani studied at Modern School, New Delhi and joined the National Defence Academy in 26th Course.  He was commissioned on 16th Oct 1965. The Air Marshal has over 4,500 hours of flying on Hunter, MiG 21, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 and a host of training aircraft including Kiran and HPT-32.  He flew 31 missions during the Indo-Pak War of Dec 71 and was 'Mentioned-in-Despatches’ for gallantry.  He is a Fighter Combat Leader and a Cat A-1 QFI.

His important appointments have included the Command of 28 Sqn and 30 Sqn, Chief Operations Officer at Ambala and Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station, Gwalior.  He has also held appointments at Air HQ in the Directorates of Operations & Weapons, Personnel and Air Staff Inspections.  His assignments as a Flying Instructor have included tenures at Air Force Academy, Fighter Training Wing, Flying Instructors’ School and Iraqi AF College, Tikrit.  He has been a DS at the Defence Services Staff College and College of Air Warfare. 

Air Marshal Bhojwani’s last three appointments have been Commandant, Air Force Academy (2000-2002) which is the premier training institution of the IAF, Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) Western Air Command, where he closely directed all air operations, including the newly inducted network centric assets such as UAVs, aerostat radars, integrated air defence activities, etc. His final appointment was as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, Bangalore.  He is the author of a number of papers on air training and operations.

Vice Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva, UYSM, VSM Former Commandant, National Defence College and former Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, Information Warfare & Operations

Admiral Kaushiva has commanded the missile boats INS Prachand & Veer, Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel Vijaya and the guided missile frigate INS Ganga. His other important afloat assignments include the appointments of Fleet Communications Officer, Western Fleet and Fleet Operations Officer, Eastern Fleet. Ashore, he has been Director Naval Signals & Electronic Warfare and Director Naval Operations at Naval Headquarters. After promotion to flag rank, he has been Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Information Warfare & Operations) ; Deputy Commandant & Chief Instructor, National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam and Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command at Kochi. In August 2005 he was promoted Vice Admiral and appointed Commandant Naval Academy. Prior to his superannuation from naval service, on 30 Sep 2007, he was the Commandant of the National Defence College, the highest seat of military learning, at New Delhi.

Ajai Raj Sharma Former Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) and former Police Commissioner, Delhi

Mr. Ajai Raj Sharma joined the Indian Police Service in 1966 and served in several sensitive districts of Uttar Pradesh, from 1970 to 1982. Notable amongst these were the Banda, Farrukhabad, Aligarh, Allahabad, Meerut and Agra districts.

As a Deputy Inspector General of Police, Faizabad Range U.P., he was in charge of six districts, and subsequently the Bareilly and Lucknow zones as the Inspector General of Police. Most of the districts of these zones, particularly the districts in the Tarai area, were badly affected by the militant activities of Sikh militant groups. Consecutive district postings led to acquiring of vast experience in handling sensitive law and order situations, tackling ethnic violence, dealing with notorious criminal gangs, organised crime and militancy.

In July 1999, he was the Commissioner of Police for the capital city, Delhi. This was a highly sensitive assignment as the city was in the grip of a severe crime wave and was also subjected to a lot of terrorist violence. The highlights of this assignment were that important Pakistani and Islamic militants were liquidated besides foiling the attack on the Parliament. The involvement of Pakistan was conclusively proved through the investigations undertaken by Delhi Police. Sensational cases such as the murder of Smt. Phulan Devi (Member of Parliament) and the attack on the Red Fort in Delhi were worked out in a record time.

On completion of a record three years tenure as Commissioner of Police, he was posted as Director General, Border Security Force – the world’s largest border guarding force – in June 2002. This assignment offered the unique opportunity to manage some of the most difficult borders in the world and also provided an opportunity to conduct counter - insurgency operations against Kashmiri militant groups and Islamic ‘Tanzeems’, such as Jaish-e-Mohammade, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen etc. This assignment also afforded occasions to discuss existing border problems with Pakistan and Bangladesh and to interact with their officials on common issues.

Some notable awards that Mr. Ajai Raj Sharma has received are thePolice Medal for Meritorious Service, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry besides many others.

Major General Shankar Krishna Murthy, VSM Former Additional Director General, Tactical Communications and Former Chief Signals Officer of Command

Major General Shankar Murthy, an alumni of NDA, was commissioned into Corps of Signals in December’69.

He is an M.Tech. from IIT Delhi and holds a Diploma in Business from MDI, Gurgaon. He has attended the Staff College, Higher Command and NDC course on Strategies and Structures and has been an instructor in the Military College of Telecom Engineering.

He has vast experience in combating insurgency and terrorism. He was Brigade Major in insurgency ridden Mizoram, intelligence officer against the LTTE gorillas in war ravaged Sri Lanka and Commanding Officer in terrorist infested Kashmir.

He has been playing lead roles in projects relating to Information Warfare, Network Centric Operations, Information Systems and Strategic Backbone Communications.

He has vast experience in large Project Management, having executed over a 100 projects in his capacity as Chief Signals Officer of Corps in the Eastern and Western Theatres. As Chief Signals Officer of Command, he was the architect of a new network for the hinterland. He has served in Head Quarters Integrated Defence Staff, wherein he played a stellar role in Defence - Industry Partnership, Spectrum Management at National level, and drafting policy documents for Defence Procurements. His last assignment was Additional Director General Tactical Communications, where he headed a two billion dollar project.

Commander AJB Singh Ex-Indian Navy and previous organiser of Defexpo and Aero India exhibitions

Commander AJB Singh, commissioned in 1965 into the Logistics Branch of the Navy and apart from the usual appointments ashore & afloat was Staff officer to two Fleet Commanders and to the first two technical Chiefs of Material at NHQ. He was on the faculty of DSSC for over four years. Thereafter he joined Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata in 1988 and was selected for deputation to MoD. He served for three years as Director, Defence Exhibition Organisation. He was appointed Secretary of the Ootacamund Hunt throughout his tenure at DSSC. He was also the organiser of previous DefExpo and Aero India exhibitions.

Commander AJB Singh is also a free lance writer and had a humour column "Off the Cuff" with The Statesman for a considerable period of time. He recently did a firsthand assessment of the situation in National Waterway 1 for the National Maritime Foundation.