NDC gearing up to offer more seats to foreign participants

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National Defence College
National Defence College

The National Defence College (NDC), as part of its Diamond Jubilee celebrations is organising a two day Webinar on 5th and 6th Nov with the theme ‘India’s National Security- a Decade Ahead’. This was announced by Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and Commandant of NDC, Air Marshal D Choudhury at a press conference in New Delhi.

NDC is one of the leading institutions of the world dedicated to intellectual development and strategic training of select senior officers of Armed Forces and Civil Services of India and those of foreign countries. The first NDC course was held in 1960 with 21 participants.

Dr Ajay Kumar said that in the Diamond Jubilee Year NDC has 100 participants; 75 from India and 25 from friendly countries. He said it is the most prestigious program for higher management both in Armed Forces and Civil Services. A number of illustrious alumni from NDC have held significant appointments which include the present Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat , Two Governors, present National Security Advisor (NDA) Ajit Doval , 2 Election Commissioners, 30 Indian Service Chiefs, over 20 Ambassadors, 4 Defence Secretaries and 5 Foreign Secretaries besides a number of others.

National Defence College
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

A number of foreign alumni have also achieved significant positions in their respective countries which include 74 Service Chiefs of their Armed Forces. King of Bhutan Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck , Former President of Bangladesh Lt Gen Hussain Muhammad Ershad and Former Head of State of Ghana Lt Gen Frederick William Kwasi Akuffo are very prominent alumni of NDC.

Apart from Rajnath Singh the Defence Minister of India , Chancellor of Queensland University Peter Varghese , C Rajmohan Director of South Asian University, General Bipin Rawat , Foriegn Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla are the prominent speakers in the webinar.

Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said NDC is among the most sought after programmes of its kind of the world. To cater to continuous demand for more seats from other countries, the Ministry of Defence has decided to increase capacity of NDC from 100 to 110 in 2021 and to 120 in 2022. He said “We will be able to offer more seats to friendly foreign countries from where demand is huge. Necessary infrastructure in this regard is being created. We are going to give additional seats to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh apart from new seats to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan Philippines, Indonesia and Maldives.”

To commemorate the Diamond Jubilee Year, President Ramnath Kovid has consented to institute a President’s Chair of Excellence on National Security and Strategy at NDC. This will be operational from NDC 2021. An e-book on NDC titled “NDC – Abode of Strategic Excellence” will be released by Rajnath Singh on this occasion.

Commandant of NDC, Air Marshal D Choudhury told that despite the COVID-19 constraints, NDC continued its program online from March 2020. It is remarkable that a full course curriculum has been accomplished without dilution, he added.