Combined Commanders? Conference held at Kevadia in Gujarat Concludes

The Combined Commanders’ Conference (CCC); a premier brain-storming event of the Military Commanders from the three Services have been conducted this year at Kevadia in Gujarat. The three-day conference started on 04 and ended on 06 March has the combined apex level military leadership of the country reviewing the security situation and defence preparedness of the Armed Forces, and deliberating pertinent organisational issues for evolving a joint military vision for the future.

Raksha Mantri Sh Rajnath Singh has joined the military commanders along with the team of Secretary level officers from the Ministry of Defence for deliberations from the second day. The Valedictory Session on the third and final day was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also in attendance.

In a major change from the past, the scope of the conference this year has been expanded to make it a multi-layered, interactive, informal and informed event with the added participation of about 30 Officers and soldiers of various ranks from the three Services. Key events encapsulate series of discussions & deliberations on a range of issues pertinent to the Armed Forces and its role in nation-building, with the participation of senior-most political and bureaucratic hierarchy in addition to the multi-layered participation of military personnel.

It is interesting to note that the CCC in 2014 was held in Delhi. Since then it has been moved out to different venues across the country. The conference was held onboard INS Vikramaditya in 2015 and in 2017 at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. The last edition of CCC was held in 2018 over a period of two days at Air Force Station, Jodhpur. There have been several major developments in the Higher Defence Organisation since including the appointment of the first-ever Chief of Defence Staff and the setting up of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), and several important & multifarious issues affecting the modernisation & transformation of the Armed Forces are currently under active consideration/ implementation.