Indian Defence University (
abbr. IDU,
ISO
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
Me ...
: ''Bhāratīya Rakṣā Viśvavidyālaya'') is a
defence service university set up for the affiliation of
training academies of
union government defence servants working under the
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 ...
. These
union government defence servants can collectively be termed as generalist branch and specialist branch of the
Indian Military. It is not to be confused with the
Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) which is focused on the police and para-military
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), whereas IDU is focused on the military. It is located at
Binola village in
Gurugram district of
Haryana
Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...
state in India that is being built.
[India’s still waiting for a defence university that was proposed in 1967, while Pakistan has 2]
The Print, 17 Oct 2020. It is proposed to be one of the Institutes of National Importance
In India, an Institution of National Importance (INI) refers to a premier public higher education institution granted special status by an act of the Parliament of India. Such institutions are recognized for their pivotal role in developing high ...
(INIs).
It was first proposed in 1967, but is unlikely to become operational in the foreseeable future, despite periodic optimism.[Cabinet approves setting up of bus bay near Indian Defence University Land in Gurugram, Haryana]
business-standard.com, 20 Feb 2018. As of January 2020, only the perimeter road and boundary walls have been constructed, the construction of the main building and teaching infrastructure could not commence until the "Indian National Defence University (INDU) Act, 2015" is passed, which is still awaiting approval from the Union Cabinet and the Parliament of India in the form of a draft bill.
It is located on the eastern flank of Delhi–Jaipur Expressway ( NH 48), just southwest of Pachgaon Chowk on Western Peripheral Expressway, nearly southwest of National Security Guard base, northwest of Heritage Transport Museum, southwest of Gurugram CBD, and southwest of IGI International Airport. NHAI has established a bus bay for the university at NH48.[
]
History
Conception
The idea for this autonomous institution was initially conceived in 1967, strongly recommended by "Sethna Committee" in 1980 and the 1999 Kargil War Review Committee, as well as the "Group Minister's report on reforming national security system" in 2001 recommended its establishment to then Home Minister L. K. Advani, and also by K. Subrahmanyam, the proposal was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2010, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the Indian National Defence University (INDU) at Binola in Gurgaon on 23 May 2013. Draft bill was put online in August 2016 for the public consultation, but since then the bill is still awaiting approval from the Union Cabinet and the Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...
. After the extensive brainstorming with then-defence minister Arun Jaitley and other ministers, the revised bill was finalised in December 2017 and it was renamed from Indian National Defence University (INDU) to Indian Defence University (IDU). The detailed project report for the university will be prepared after it has been approved by the cabinet.[
]
Act of Parliament - pending
As of October 2024, the draft bill was still lying with the prime minister Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
, awaiting his and cabinet's approval. India has no defense university even though such a university in India was first proposed in 1967, while Pakistan already has two defense universities.[ As of September 2019, there was no evidence that the university will ever open,] despite earlier optimism. "The country certainly needs a 'world-class' INDU to inject some much-needed strategic culture in governance as well as encourage robust cross-linkages between the executive and academia. Almost all major countries, from the US to China, have national defence niarsities (sic) to develop national security leaders as well as undertake long-term strategic studies and threat assessments."
Campus development
Once the act is passed in the parliament, IDU will be developed in phases, and the first phase will take 3 to 4 years. Meanwhile, the IDU is operating from its temporary location at Jodhpur
Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...
.[
]
Legal framework
IDU will be established through an act of Parliament, it will be autonomous and not under the UGC. It will be a teaching research and affiliating university as well as a think tank.[IDU]
IDS, accessed 29 nov 2022.
The university
Objectives
The INDU aims to undertake the following:
* Promote research-oriented national defence policy
Military policy (also called defence policy or defense policy) is public policy dealing with multinational security and the military. It comprises the measures and initiatives that governments do or do not take in relation to decision-making and ...
.
* High level leadership development of officers for military duties and policy formulation responsibilities
* Develop and propagate higher education in defence studies like defence management and defence science and technology.
* University think tanks
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-gov ...
for providing policy formulations inputs.
The much needed pending three reforms for the national security and military readiness are the integrated tri services operational commands under the Chief of Defence Staff, the make in India indigenous defence manufacturing, and the reform in military education in India. While some progress has been made towards the first two, but the reforms in military education in India are still lacking. The current military training in India trains officers with "narrow professional skills to command companies, battalions and brigades, or perform staff duties at various levels, there is practically no attempt to give the officers a sense of the larger contexts – strategic, political and international – in which the armed forces function. It is only at the highest training establishment, the National Defence College, that senior one-star officers get exposed to some of these issues. This is too little and too late. This outmoded approach to training impacts the quality of human capital at all levels in the services. Yet, no government has paid serious attention to this. The fate of the long-heralded Indian National Defence University is symptomatic of the political leadership's neglect of this crucial area."[Defence University to Defence Chief – Modi govt now has political capital for the big reforms]
ThePrint
The Print is an Indian online newspaper, owned by Printline Media Pvt Ltd. It was launched by journalist Shekhar Gupta in August 2017.
History
Printline Media Pvt. Ltd, founded by journalist Shekhar Gupta, was incorporated in New Delhi, Ind ...
, 2019.
Administration
This autonomous University will be instituted by the Act of the Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...
, and President of India
The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
will be a Visitor, and the Defence Minister
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
will be the Chancellor. INDU will be governed as per its own norms and will be responsible to promote coordination and interaction between Institutions of Armed Forces or establishments of the country. Defence training institutions will be affiliated to award degrees.
The institute will be headed by a President, who will be a three-star serving General or equivalent officer with C-in-C status on appointment, and a Vice-President, who will be a civilian. The university formed on the lines of Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are a network of engineering and technology institutions in India. Established in 1950, they are under the purview of the Ministry of Education of the Indian Government and are governed by the Inst ...
(IIT) and Indian Institutes of Management
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are Centrally Funded Business Schools for management offering undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and executive programmes along with some additional courses in the field of business administra ...
(IIMs) will have the teaching faculty composed of military personnel and civilians in the ratio of 1:1.
Constituent schools
The university will have the following constituent units:
* Centre for Distance and Open Learning (CDOL).
* School of Defence Management (SDM).
* School of Defence Technology (SDT).
* School of National Security Studies (SNSS).
* School of Foreign Languages (SFL).
Affiliated institutes of Indian military
Following existing institutes will be affiliated to the university:[
* College of Defence Management (CDM, Secunderabad, Telangana).
* Defence Services Staff College (DSSC, Wellington, Tamil Nadu).
* National Defence Academy (NDA, Khadakwasla, Maharashtra).]
* National Defence College (NDC, New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
).
* School of Foreign Languages (SFL, New Delhi
New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
).
Courses
At least 66% students will be from 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 ...
and the remaining 33% will be from the Paramilitary forces of India, Police in India and civilians.[ The university will offer doctoral and post-doctoral research, post-graduate studies as well as higher studies through distance learning to military and civilians.][
War and ]peace
Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...
courses will include strategic thinking
Strategic thinking is a mental or thinking process applied by individuals and within organizations in the context of achieving a goal or set of goals.
When applied in an organizational strategic management process, strategic thinking involves ...
, Chinese studies
Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilization p ...
, Eurasian studies, Southeast Asian studies, neighborhood studies, international security
''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publis ...
and national security strategy, maritime security studies, wargaming
A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to st ...
and military simulation
Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Military simulations are seen as a useful way to develop Military tactics, t ...
, joint logistics, counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...
and counter-terrorism
Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...
and material acquisition.Land acquisition for the Indian National Defence University started - India Today
/ref>
Courses offered presently
As of November 2022, IDU offers only following 3 courses by SFL (School of Foreign Languages) only from temporary campus at Jodhpur:[
# Certificate of Proficiency (COP): 1 year part time course.][
# Advance Diploma of Proficiency (ADOP): 1 year part time course for who already possess the COP.][
# Interpretership Course: full time course that ranges from 16.5 to 23.5 months long course.][
]
Campus
Main campus at Binola in Gurugram
The 205 acres and 15 marla land for the campus was acquired by the Haryana government and handed over to 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 ...
in September 2012 and found stone was laid in April 2013. Of the 205 acre 15 marla land, 2 acre 3 kanal 9.5 marla was transferred to the revenue department of Haryana Government for building a road to provide access to the farmers from NH8 to their farm land,[Construction of Defence University in Gurgaon begins]
Economic Times, 11 July 2018. thus leaving 202 acres, 5 kanal and 5.5 marla for the university campus. However, Bhumi Puja was held in 2018 during which Air Marshal A.S. Bhonsle of Integrated Defence Staff laid the first brick for the commencement of construction of boundary wall, perimeter road, watch towers and guard rooms,[ construction of which has been completed as of December 2019 but the construction of buildings has not yet started, "only five to seven army officials visit the site every Sunday with two security guards looking after the area".][Stone laid in 2013, just boundary walls come up at country’s first defence varsity]
Hindustan Times, 22 December 2019. Then Union Minister of state for defence, Subhash Bhamre, had told the Lok Sabha in 2016 that "the construction work on the project will start once the Indian National Defence University (INDU) Act, 2015, is passed by Parliament",[ which is still pending approval from the union cabinet and the national parliament.
]
Jodhpur temporary campus
Since 2018, IDU has been operating from its temporary campus at officers' hostel at Jodhpur.[
]
See also
* Army Welfare Education Society
Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) manages and ensures proper education facilities to children of Indian Army personnel through Local Military Authorities. Established in 1983, the society has its office at Shankar Vihar, Delhi Cantonment ...
* Education in India
Education in India is primarily managed by the state-run public education system, which falls under the command of the government at three levels: Government of India, central, States and Territories of India, state and Local government in In ...
* List of institutions of higher education in Haryana
* Military academies in India
The Indian Defence services have established numerous academies and staff colleges across India for the purpose of training professional soldiers in military sciences, warfare command and strategy, and associated technologies.
Education and train ...
* Rashtriya Raksha University
* Sainik School
The Sainik Schools () are a system of Military high schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society () under Ministry of Defence (MoD). They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of Indi ...
* Starex University
References
{{Education in Asia
Universities in Haryana
Military education and training in India