The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. It trains officers of all three services of the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...

– (

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

), selected officers from the Paramilitary forces and the

Civil Services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and officers from friendly foreign countries for command and staff appointments.

History

The Defence Services Staff College, one of India's oldest military institutions, was established following the Partition of British India in August 1947. During the partition, Pakistan inherited the Staff College, Quetta, originally founded in 1905 at

Deolali Deolali, or Devlali (), is a small hill station and a census town in Nashik district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Now it is part of Nashik Metropolitan Region. Deolali has an important army base. Deolali Camp, one of the oldest Indian mi ...

before relocating to

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

in 1907. The Indian elements of the Staff College, Quetta led by the senior-most Indian Army instructor

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

S. D. Verma moved to India. Verma was promoted

brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

and appointed as the first commandant and chose Wellington Cantonment in The Nilgiris District of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

as the location of the Staff College in India. The first staff course started in April 1948, months after the move. The first course had 46 officers from the Indian Army and 2 each from the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. Two officers from this course –

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Tapishwar Narain Raina and

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediatel ...

Hrushikesh Moolgavkar went on to head their services as the Chiefs. The air wing was established in 1949 and the Naval Wing in 1950 and the college was rechristened ''Defence Services Staff College''. The college threw open its gates to officers from friendly foreign countries from the fifth course and to

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

from the sixth course. DSSC has been affiliated to

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

for the award of M.Sc. degree in 'Defence and Strategic Studies' and recognized as a research centre for MPhil and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degrees since 1990.

Crest and motto

Stamp of India - 1998 - Colnect 161855 - Defence Services Staff College

The Staff College when at Quetta adopted the crest of

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which ...

, which was the 'Wise Owl' with the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

motto . In 1964, Owl perched on crossed swords and the motto in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

was adopted.

Commandant

The commandant of the Defence Services Staff College is the head of the institution. The commandant is an army officer of the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Organisation

The commandant of the college is assisted by the chief instructors (CI) of the army, naval and air wings, all two-star appointments. The CIs are drawn from the respective services. The Incharge of the administrative wing (also a two-star appointment), and the brigadier general staff (BGS) also report into the commandant.

Notable alumni

Chiefs of Army Staff

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Sam Manekshaw Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw (3 April 1914 – 27 June 2008), also known as Sam Bahadur ("the Brave") was an Indian Army general officer who was the Chief of the Army Staff (India), Chief of the army staff during the Banglade ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

P. P. Kumaramangalam * General Tapishwar Narain Raina * General Om Prakash Malhotra * General Arun Shridhar Vaidya * General K. V. Krishna Rao * General

Krishnaswamy Sundarji General (India), General Krishnaswamy "Sundarji" Sundararajan, (28 April 1928 – 8 February 1999) was the Chief of the Army Staff (India), Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1986 to 1988. He was the last former British In ...

* General Vishwa Nath Sharma * General Sunith Francis Rodrigues * General Bipin Chandra Joshi * General Shankar Roychowdhury * General Ved Prakash Malik * General Sundararajan Padmanabhan * General Nirmal Chander Vij * General J. J. Singh * General Deepak Kapoor * General V. K. Singh * General Bikram Singh * General Bipin Rawat * General Manoj Mukund Naravane * General Manoj Pande

Chiefs of Naval Staff

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Ronald Lynsdale Pereira * Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson * Admiral Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni * Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat * Admiral Sushil Kumar * Admiral Madhvendra Singh * Admiral Arun Prakash * Admiral Sureesh Mehta * Admiral Robin K. Dhowan * Admiral Sunil Lanba * Admiral Karambir Singh

Chiefs of Air Staff

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Hrushikesh Moolgavkar * Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif * Air Chief Marshal Lakshman Madhav Katre * Air Chief Marshal Surinder Mehra * Air Chief Marshal S. K. Kaul * Air Chief Marshal Satish Sareen * Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis * Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy * Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi * Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik * Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha * Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa

Foreign alumni

* Hans-Christoph Ammon, Head of German special forces *

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

, President and former military Head of State, Nigeria *

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

, former Nigerian President * Sitiveni Rabuka OBE, MSD, OStJ, 3rd Prime Minister of Fiji * Lieutenant Colonel Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, RWP, RSP, GR – former

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

* Major General Matheus Alueendo 7th Commander of the Namibian Army *

Basil Gunasekara, former commander of the

Sri Lanka Navy The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) (; ) is the navy, naval arm of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is classed as the country's most vital defence force due to its island geography. It is responsible for the maritime defence of the Sri Lankan nation and its ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Education in Nilgiris district Staff colleges Military academies of India Educational institutions established in 1905 1905 establishments in India Colleges affiliated to University of Madras Defence Services Staff College