As the curtains were drawn on the first edition of Ran Samwad 2025, the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, in his closing remarks, stressed that any “dissonance” amongst the services will be resolved in the best interest of the nation.
It may be noted that during the course of discussions, the Naval Chief and the Air chief had made contrasting remarks over the proposed creation of theatre commands. While Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said that there was no need for another structure at the lower level, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi called for the roll-out of theatre commands as the “ultimate goal”.
Addressing the gathering, Chauhan said, “As a CDS, I actually set out to promote jointness among the three services. Today, I can say with some kind of pleasure and confidence that we can speak about our differences in a very conducive kind of environment… openness to patiently listen to others with different and alternate points of view, without temperatures rising.”
“Even if you don’t agree with the point, there could be hundreds of others we can discuss… There could be differences among the three services, but we are still able to listen to that point. I think that is very important, and I am hopeful that something of this may have rubbed off on the veterans who are over here. Actually, they hold an even larger desire to protect their kind of turfs,” he added.
“I think that is a very good sign. So if you have sensed some kind of a dissonance, let me assure you that we will resolve it in the best interest of the nation,” the CDS assured, adding: “There were some questions about the level of integration and that you need to make things progress faster and take it to a higher level, but be assured that we are doing our best.”
He also stressed that coordination should not be restricted to the tri-services but extended to other agencies as well. “I think there is a need to coordinate not only among the three services but also, in some cases, with intelligence agencies, CAPFs, etc. I think that’s important,” he added.
Stating that today’s scenario calls for a combination of a scholar-warrior and a tech-warrior, the CDS said the latter would harness cutting-edge technologies of artificial intelligence and data-centre architecture. “What we need is also an info-warrior who can change narratives, counter disinformation, and dominate the invisible backspace of perceptions,” he added.
Concluding his statement, the CDS announced that the second edition of Ran Sanwad will be organised at the Agra-based Air Force Training Command in May 2026.