Gen Bipin Rawat: India's response to Uri, Pulwama attacks most robust

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said that India's response to Uri and Pulwama attacks were significantly the most robust in nature following inaction post-2008 Mumbai blasts. "The responses to Uri and Pulwama (attacks) are significantly most robust against the inaction after 26/11 (Mumbai attacks)," General Bipin Rawat said. He was addressing an audience at the Manohar Parikar Memorial Lecture in Mumbai University.

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Patriotism to tackle challenges to national security

The Army chief said that threat to national security is becoming more challenging day-by-day and only a tide patriotism in each and everyone can get public support in tacking challenges to national security. "We must develop international engagement to ensure that power politics is been played in the region and outside," Rawat said, adding that the Indian military is now well-posed to charge new projectors in national security.

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Leaner and meaner force

Saying that weapon systems are becoming imperial lethal, General Rawat said that one needs to look for the victory in the shortest possible time frame. "To achieve victory in a shorter time, we need leaner and meaner force which will inflict maximum damage on the adversary in a faster time frame and achieve the objective of victory," the Army chief said. "If you don't want your people to face casualties or damage, therefore, you need a victory in a short time, you need to do inflict damage on the advisors and to do that the political objectives can be met before international pressure comes on you or go for a ceasefire," he added.

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Need to reorganise military resources

General Rawat underlined the need to re-organise and install military resources so as to use the defence budget effectively. He said that India should adjust its military ambitions with the size of the economy. "We must make sure that economic flight is calibrated with a span of our strategic stride. We must temper our military ambition with the size of our economy and the budgetary allocation that we receive," he said.

Stressing on the need to reorganise the military resources, he said, "We must cut the cloak to size. Too many tight-fitting garments will not suit us and oversize garments will only lead to avoidable expenditures." Bipin Rawat assured the participants that the Army has been working on the same. The Army chief said that technology, connectivity, and trade were at the "heart of new consternations," and that diplomacy has increased rapidly. Stating that the nature of warfare is changing, he said, "Some thought leaders opined that the space for all-out conflict is narrowing."

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(With ANI inputs)