THE new Chief of Staff of Indian Army General Dhiraj Seth has encapsulated the entire philosophy the Indian Army has evolved over the past some years, with a fresh nomenclature -- VIJAY (Vigilance, Innovation, Jointness and Integration, Atmanirbharta, and ‘Yoddha First’). This philosophy covers not just the new concepts and new technology-driven initiatives but also the old concepts such as soldiering (which insist upon the finest possible care for the human component that actually fight wars -- though with the help of new, high-tech weapons. The details of the VIJAY vision of General Dhiraj Seth show how the Indian Army -- and also the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy -- will conduct themselves in overall security calculus.

 

This thrust should give the Indian Army and other Forces enough impetus to improve their standards. There is no doubt that the Indian Armed Forces have been working very systematically to polish concepts such Vigilance, Innovation, Atmanirbharta -- and have attained a fairly high degree of success in those efforts. The idea of ‘Yoddha First’, too, has got a good deal of attention in India’s Armed Forces. However, as experts insist, India’s defence and security ecosystem has to work harder to achieve a reasonably high level of Jointness and Integration -- to suit the needs of modern warfare. The concept of Jointness and Integration is not difficult to understand, all right, but is truly complex to be implemented. Though the top brass of the Armed Forces have been deliberating on the issue for long, they have not been able to come up with a well-defined model of Jointness.

 

This appears to be so because the top brass is yet to evolve a definitive definition of what constitutes perfect Jointness and Integration of all arms of the security apparatus in actual action of war when a real enemy is on the other side of the hill. The outline of what should constitute Jointness is certainly available with the Indian Armed Forces, all right. Yet, what appears to be missing is the finer detailing of the system, process and the final product. The “Operation Sindoor” gave a good experience of what Jointness could mean. Yet, the top brass also understood the gaps between the cup and the lip during that short war in which India overwhelmed a lowly Pakistan most authentically. That exposure to the cracks in the system made the top brass to start thinking afresh about how the idea of Jointness could be actually achieved perfectly in the face of a no-nonsense, actual war where every bullet is fired and every bomb is hurled only to kill or get killed.

 

Of course, Jointness is not a new concept and many armies have demonstrated its success in concerted action the world over. True, modern technology does make the difference in favour of Jointness. Yet, The military brains in India do not appear to have perfected the idea of how they would handle Jointness as an operational concept. General Dhiraj Seth appears to have come up with a practical approach to the idea of Jointness and Integration. If ‘VIJAY’ offers a neat solution to the challenge, then the prowess of the Indian Armed Forces will improve dramatically in actual conflict. Many Armies in the world have achieved a fairly high degree of Jointness in their operations. Jointness, of course, is a continually evolving concept. The problem of military strategy and its tactical implementation is that no plan endures the first contact between rival armies. Military historians, too, have discussed the issue and often felt that Jointness gets tested in a tough manner the moment first contact takes place with the enemy. Nevertheless, General Dhiraj Seth has come up with VIJAY as a way forward, and that would help the Indian Armed Forces in multiple ways. What is endearing is the pursuit of classicism that the country’s defence community never gives up. It is one great mark of its high standard of professionalism -- that has earned the country overall global respect.