It’s the Indian Army’s largest and oldest command, covering 11 states and four union territories. That’s nearly 41 per cent of India’s land mass. It houses several top notch defence institutions, such as the National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Defence Services Staff College.
Call it the Indian Army’s training hub. It looks after a 1200-kilometre border with Pakistan and has varied geographic features, such as an open desert, a creek area and 45,000 square kilometres of what is known as the Rann of Kutch where hauling winds cause salt particles to hit you like icicles.
Welcome to the Indian Army’s southern command. Like in any other operational area, there’s no scope to let your guard down, as Southern Army Commander Lt Gen AK Singh told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale in an exclusive interview. There’s a need to prepare well and we are prepared because in case of a war there is no “runner-up”. Tune in for more.
Nitin A. Gokhale is a media entrepreneur, one of South Asia's leading strategic affairs analyst and author of over a dozen books so far on military history, insurgencies and wars.
Starting his career in journalism in 1983, he has since led teams of journalists across media platforms.
A specialist in conflict coverage, Gokhale has covered the insurgencies in India’s North-East, the 1999 Kargil conflict and Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.
Gokhale now travels across the globe to speak at seminars and conferences, and lecture at India’s premier defence colleges. He has founded three niche portals, Bharatshakti.in, stratnewsglobal.com and Interstellar.news.
