The 75th Year of Independence is a milestone in India’s march towards a sovereign dispensation characterised by freedom, peace, and prosperity. In that endeavour, the preservation of territorial sanctity, economic sovereignty and political relevance in a competitive intra- and inter-regional dispensation are major challenges.

India’s geographic situation between two compulsively revisionist, aggressive and militarist neighbours adds to the rigours of such challenges. Wisdom states that as a rising India proceeds to secure her aspirations of peace and prosperity, it would be mandatory to sustain the journey with the possession of robust and military prowess.

The purpose of this Vivekananda International Foundation publication is to visualise, candidly, for readers, a futuristic construct of India’s military prowess that is sustainable within the nation’s affordable defence economics.

Lieutenant General Gautam Banerjee, PVSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd) is a decorated war veteran, a former Chief of Staff, Central Army Command and a former Commandant of the Officers` Training Academy, Chennai. Post superannuation in 2011, he is a Senior Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi and a Mentor with the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and the United Services Institute, New Delhi, and the Consulting Editor of India`s most prominent defence journal, the `Indian Defence Review`.

Besides speaking and participating in security related seminars and discussions in India and abroad, the General has authored over a hundred papers and seven books on military strategy, organisation and history. He has also edited and contributed to six policy perspective books so far. His engagements also include the Trusteeship in three trusts working on soldiers` welfare and morale.