Generals back to classrooms for tech update

NEW DELHI: The Army plans to send its two-star generals back to the classrooms. No, the over 290 Major-Generals in the 1.18-million strong force will not be going to school. Instead, they will attend courses in future to hone their “senior leadership skill sets and competencies“ in tune with the rapid changes in military technology , threats and geopolitics.

Sources on Monday said the Army commanders' conference, chaired by General Bipin Rawat last week, cleared the decision for short-duration training courses for the relatively few officers who reach the Major-General rank after over 30 years of service in the “steeply-pyramidal“ promotion structure in the force.

The top brass felt there was a need to evolve a training framework for senior officers because of the rapid technological transformation of the Army , the ever-expanding role of information warfare, changing geopolitical realities, societal changes, rising aspirations of soldiers, proliferation in social media platforms and other challenges.

“All these factors have increased the complexities for senior leaders in the force. Various modalities like the time frame, curriculum, benchmarking and the like for the Major-Generals will be now worked out after last week's approval,“ said a source.