Air Marshal VK ‘Jimmy’ Bhatia was commissioned in the Indian Air Force on May 26, 1962, winning the ‘Chief of the Air Staff Medal’ for standing first in the fighter stream of his course. He has a total of 5,500 hours of flying to his credit, accumulated on approximately 20 types of fighters. While serving as a young Flying Officer, he trained with the US Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base, where he earned the coveted ‘Top Gun’ trophy among other awards while undergoing ‘Combat Crew Training Course’. A Post Graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and the Royal College of Defence Studies, London, UK, he also led an Army/Air Force team to attend the first-ever NBC Warfare Course for officers of the Indian Armed Forces at Timoschenko Academy, Moscow. During his more than 40 years of commissioned service, Air Marshal Bhatia had the unique distinction of being the Commander-in-Chief of the Central, South-Western and Western Air Commands. Air Marshal Bhatia was awarded the Vir Chakra twice, for striking deep into enemy territory during the 1965 and 1971 wars. He is a recipient of the Param Vashisht Seva Medal and Ati Vashisht Seva Medal Presidential awards for distinguished services of the highest order.

Vice Adm Shekhar Sinha is a former Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. He was a member of the Defence Acquisition Council between 2010 to 2012. Adm. Sinha is a naval aviator of fighter stream and has flown over 2700 hours. Adm. Sinha retired in 2014 as the C-in-C of the Western Naval Command based at Mumbai, with additional responsibility of C-in-C Coastal Security, Western Seaboard. He holds an MSc and MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras.

Amb. Ashok Sajjanhar was a career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service and had a distinguished career over three decades. He was the ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia. He negotiated for India in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, for India-EU, India-ASEAN and the India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. He has worked as the head of National Foundation for Communal Harmony. Amb. Sajjanhar is a strategic expert who writes and speaks on issues relating to international relations and Indian foreign policy.

Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma is a decorated veteran of the Indian Army with a career spanning forty years. He has had extensive operational experience in Jammu and Kashmir, North East and on the Western Borders. The officer was Research Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. He has a PhD in Defence Studies. Gen Sharma was the Adjutant General of the Indian Army responsible for Human Resource Management and superannuated in 2017. He has been awarded with Param Vashisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vashisht Seva Medal and Vashisht Seva Medal.

He is among India’s most prominent journalists, editors and authors, and a former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He is one of the longest-serving accredited correspondents of the PIB (Press Information Bureau). He is a regular columnist for several newspapers – The Times of India, Daily Excelsior, Amar Ujala, Jagran, Vijaya Karnataka, Tamil Dinamani, Bengali Swastika, Marathi Tarun Bharat, Punjab Kesari. His views and statements have appeared in Christian Science Monitor, NYT and in Japanese and other foreign papers. He is also a film-maker who has made documentary films and anchored popular shows on All India Radio. He scripted and directed India’s first tele serial on river Indus for Doordarshan. He has written twenty-three books in Hindi, English and translated into several languages including Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Mandarin. He worked for The Blitz as a roving tribal correspondent, wrote for The Statesman, Femina, Indian Express, Hindustan Times and The Hindu. He was chief editor of `Panchjanya for two decades. He was member of The Central Press Accreditation Committee (CPAC) appointed by the Government of India. He has been granted USIS’s prestigious MEA Chair of Excellence to write a book on the influence on Indian culture on China. He was the first editor to have a joint media programme for peace with Pakistan's Daily Jang. He was also the Chief Editor of India’s first magazine on India-Israel relation that was received by the President of India. He was recently conferred the prestigious Hindi Sansthan’s annual national award for journalism and literature for 2019- – Hindi Gaurav Samman. He is the first north Indian to get “Arunthamizh Aarvalar” award from Kamban Kazhagam Academy. As an MP, he was nominated as a member of the parliamentary standing committees on External affairs, Defence and Education. He is Chairman, National Monument Authority.

Prof KP Vijayalakshmi is an eminent serving Professor at the JNU at the American Studies in SIS, JNU. She is a well-regarded expert on US Government and Politics, US Foreign policy formulation, patterns and process, Indo-US Relations and Prospects for Scientific Cooperation, US strategies and policies in South Asia, Indian Diaspora, Comprehensive and Non-traditional security. She is a key resource person for the Academic Staff Colleges at various universities, the Army War College, Foreign Services Institute, and Indian Institute of Public Administration (New Delhi) and domain expert to both the print and broadcast media. She is the winner of the prestigious Ford Foundation Faculty Fellowship, Senior Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Salzburg Seminar Fellow, Olive J. Reddick Award, Gilnour Award of the Indian Association of American Studies.

Sujan R. Chinoy

Sujan R. Chinoy is the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, since 3 January 2019. A career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service from 1981 to 2018, he was India's Ambassador to Japan and the Republic of the Marshall Islands from 2015-2018, and, earlier, the Ambassador to Mexico and High Commissioner to Belize. Click here for detailed profile [+]

Dr Giridhar Aramane

 

Shri Vinay Mohan Kwatra is an Indian Foreign Service Officer serving as current Foreign Secretary of India.

Maj Gen (Dr) Bipin Bakshi, VSM, Retd is the Deputy Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, since August 2020. Maj Gen Bipin Bakshi, VSM has recently completed his PhD on Information Warfare. He has wide experience across Operations, Training and Cyber / Information Warfare with 5 years in the Parachute Brigade and over 2 ½ years in the NSG.

Winner of the Sword of Honour and Gold Medal from IMA Dehradun on commissioning in 1982, he was also awarded the Gold Medal at College of Military Engineering for the B Tech Course and has later attended prestigious courses including National Defence College Course. He is a recipient of Vishisht Seva Medal in 2004 for his service in the Kargil Sector during Op Parakram when his unit was awarded the Army Commander's Appreciation.Click here for detailed profile [+]