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Copyright 2019, United Service Institution of India, New Delhi
ISBN: 978-93-88161-79-4 (Hardback)
ISBN: 978-93-88161-80-0 (ebook)
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the USI or publishers.
General Bipin Rawat, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, ADC
Chief of the Army Staff
General Bipin Rawat assumed the appointment of the Chief of the Army Staff on 31 Dec 2016. He is an alumnus of St. Edward School, Shimla, and the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned to the Fifth Bn, the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in December 1978, from IMA, Dehradun, where he was awarded the Sword of Honour. The officer has vast experience in operations across a wide spectrum of conflict and terrain profiles. He commanded an Infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector; a Rashtriya Rifles Sector; an Infantry Division in the Kashmir Valley; and, a Corps in the North East. The officer also commanded a Multinational Brigade, in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). As an Army Cdr, he commanded a theatre of ops along the Western Front.
General Rawats staff and instructional assignments include Instructional tenure at IMA Dehradun; General Staff Officer, at the Military Operations Directorate; Logistics staff officer of a Division in Central India; Colonel Military Secretary and Deputy Military Secretary in the Military Secretarys Branch; and Senior Instructor, Junior Command Wing. He has been Major General Staff of the Eastern Theatre, and the Vice Chief of the Army Staff.
General Bipin Rawat is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the Higher Command and National Defence College courses and, has attended the Command and General Staff Course at Fort Leavenworth, USA. The officer, during the span of over 38 years of service in uniform, has been awarded for gallantry and distinguished service with the UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM; COAS Commendation on two occasions and the Army Commanders Commendation. Whilst serving with the United Nations, he was twice awarded the Force Commanders Commendation.
Academically inclined, the General has authored numerous articles on National Security and Leadership which have been published in various journals and publications. He was awarded M.Phil. in Defence Studies from Madras University and Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.
Lt Gen P K Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd)
Lt Gen P K Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd) was commissioned as a 2/Lt in the Indian Army in 1967. He retired as an Army Commander (C-in-C) in 2008. He is a graduate of Higher Command Course and the National Defence College. His academic qualifications include MSc, MPhil and Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management.
He took over as Director of the United Service Institution of India in January 2009. He is a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, and also member of the International Advisory Board of the RUSI International, London.
H.E. Ms Harinder Sidhu High Commissioner of Australia to India
Ms Harinder Sidhu has held the post of Australias High Commissioner to India since February 2016. She also holds non-resident accreditation to the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Ms Sidhu has over 30 years of experience in government. She began her career as a diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Before her appointment to India, she served as head of the Departments Multilateral Policy Division with responsibility for Australias relationships with the UN and UN agencies, the UN Security Council and the Commonwealth.
Between 2008 and 2013, Ms Sidhu held the post of First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Climate Change. Prior to that, she served in several senior roles in government, particularly on defence and national security matters in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Office of National Assessments.
Ms Sidhu has served overseas at Australian Embassies in Damascus and Moscow, and was also posted to Cairo where she studied Arabic language. She holds degrees in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney.
Maj Gen BK Sharma, AVSM, SM & Bar (Retd)
Maj Gen Bal Krishan Sharma, AVSM, SM & Bar (Retd) is the Deputy Director Research and Head of Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation at United Service Institution of India (USI), New Delhi. He specialises in Strategic Net Assessments, Scenario Building and Gaming. He lectures at prestigious military and civilian training establishments in India and abroad, writes articles for journals and participates in international seminars.
He has edited volumes at the USI and is editor of the USI Strategic Year Book. He has edited several books and Strategic Perspective, the digital magazine for USI of India. He has authored Monographs, Occasional Papers and also written articles in Indian and Foreign Journals on strategic affairs.
Shri Kanwal Sibal, IFS (Retd)
Shri Kanwal Sibal is a former Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. He has 41 years of experience in diplomacy, and has been Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia. He was a member of Indias National Security Advisory Board from 2008 to 2010. He is on the Board of the New York based East-West Institute and member of the Executive Council of the Vivekananda International Foundation. He is an adviser to the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. He is also Chairman of the Forum of Strategic and Security Studies. He is an Editorial Consultant to the Indian Defence Review and is Foreign Affairs Editor of Force.
He was President of the Association of Indian Diplomats in 2011. He has written more than 500 Op-Eds and other articles for major national journals and periodicals on international affairs. He was awarded Grand Officier de lordre National du Merite by the French President in 2004. In 2017 he received the Padma Shree from the President of India. He has been decorated by the Russian Foreign Minister on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry for contributions to international co-operation.
His book of poems Snowflakes of Time has been published by Bloomsbury in 2016.
Prof Sun Shihai
Prof Sun Shihai is the Director General of China Center for South Asian Studies, Sichuan University. He worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and he was also professor at the Post-Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.