India ready for multi-front war to tackle all sides: Rawat

Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Thursday said his force was ready for a two-and-a-half-front war.

This war, Gen Rawat explained, suggests the army’s ability to successfully engage with China and Pakistan, besides being able to undertake internal security duties in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

The army chief said though India was ready for a multi-front war, there are effective mechanisms available to defuse an adverse situation.

“Even the prime minister has stated that for the last 40 years, not a single bullet has been fired on the Indo-Sino border,” Gen Rawat told ANI in an interview.

The army chief blamed Pakistan for spreading misinformation on social media to mislead the youth in Kashmir, but hoped that the situation would improve soon.

On the issue of modernisation of the army, he said it would take two to three years for the Make in India initiative to show results.

Armies around the world maintain an inventory in the ratio of 30:40:30, in which 30% equipment is state-of-the-art technology, 40% undergoing modernisation and the remaining 30% is obsolete, which requires an upgrade. The Indian Army follows this trend.

On the raising of a new mountain strike corps (17 Corps), he said the delay was due to the complex process.