The 2nd Gen K Sundarji memorial lecture was conducted on 27 Apr 2019 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. The event was attended by serving and retired officers of the three Services as well as members of academia and think tanks. The lecture started by commemorating the dynamic and visionary General K Sundarji, the 14th Chief of the Army Staff, who is also fondly called as the ‘Father of the Mechanised Infantry Regiment’.
Gen K Sundarji had during his tenure from 1986 to 1988, introduced a number of technical and operational initiatives for the Indian Army. Post his conceptualisation of the Mechanised Forces, Gen Sundarji went on to raise the Mechanised Infantry Regiment. With emphasis on speed, technology and mobile weaponry, the youngest arm of the Indian Army is now an integral part of the strike forces.
The Memorial lecture commenced with a welcome note by Lt Gen PC Thimmaya, which was followed by Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff delivering the keynote address. Shri Navtej Sarna delivered a talk on “Leading India in the 21st Century : Strategic Leadership incorporating Diplomatic, Information, Military and Economic (DIME) Aspects” followed by Lt Gen PM Hariz, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd) who articulated on the topic “From Brasstacks to Doklam : Exigent need for wisdom and vision in our strategic military leadership”.