New Delhi: General Anil Chauhan (Retd.), PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, former Chief of Defence Staff, on September 05 delivered the 22nd Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lecture at the Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library, Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi.
The lecture, titled “Threats & Challenges to India’s Security“, was held as part of the commemoration of the 139th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant.
General Chauhan identified a number of challenges including geo-political flux, the rapid march of technology, the changing nature of warfare, and the weaponisation of information as challenges to India’s national security in the modern day.
Speaking to a packed auditorium, General Chauhan said, “The old balances have weakened while structures of a new order are yet to emerge fully. Alignments become issue-based and transactional in such kind of an environment. A partner in trade maybe a competitor in technology. A security partner in one theatre may hold a different position in a different theatre. Because of all this there is an increased propensity amongst nations to use force. Military power is being employed not as the last resort but the first instrument of state policy. There is a growing belief that might is right.”
He especially singled out ‘cognitive colonialism’ as a new threat.
General Chauhan said, “Today we are at the cusp of cognitive colonialism which seeks to shape how societies interpret themselves, what is value, whom it should trust and what future it should consider possible, it is targeting your mind.”
General Chauhan said India needed to develop a balance of all kinds of forces to counter the challenges of the modern-day security environment, complemented by concentric doctrines that strengthen the country’s standing in both old and new domains.
He said, “National security begins with nation building. Nation building must be supported by robust institutions. Institutions must possess the foresight and adapt before challenges become threats and the entire structure must rest upon citizens who are conscious of the nation. Today India is attractive to the world. But history teaches us that it is not enough to be attractive, we also need to be strong. Strength is not aggression, it is the capacity to protect, deter, decide and then contribute. A secure India will have the confidence to cooperate. A secure Bharat will have the wisdom to do so without losing itself.”
This year’s lecture is also significant as General Chauhan is the first serving or retired Armed Forces officer to deliver the Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lecture. Over the years, the lecture has been delivered by Presidents, Vice-Presidents, senior members of the judiciary, economists, administrators and other distinguished public figures, including V V Giri, R Venkataraman, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Justice H R Khanna and N R Narayana Murthy.
Reflecting on the lecture, Ranjan Pant, grandson of Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, said: “The nature of the threats before India has changed dramatically. Where an earlier generation could assess security through warships, submarines and visible military capability, today’s battlefield increasingly extends to drones, networks, cyber and space. General Chauhan has spent much of his career preparing India’s Armed Forces for this change. His perspective is precisely why we believed that, for the first time in the history of this lecture, it was important to hear from a soldier. His address has given us much to think about on how India must anticipate and prepare for the security challenges ahead.”
Introducing General Chauhan, Ranjan Pant also recalled the long association of the Pant family with questions of national security. K C Pant, son of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, served as India’s Defence Minister and was closely associated with defence modernisation and indigenisation. He later headed the task force that led to the establishment of India’s National Security Council and the appointment of the country’s first National Security Adviser.
General Chauhan was India’s second Chief of Defence Staff, serving from September 2022 to May 2026. During his tenure, he was Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-service matters, Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs and Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, with jointness, integration and modernisation of the Armed Forces among the major areas of focus.
His military career spanned more than four decades. Commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1981, General Chauhan commanded an Infantry Division in Baramulla, a Corps in the North-East and the Eastern Command. He also served as Director General of Military Operations before retiring from the Army in May 2021 and returning to service as Chief of Defence Staff in September 2022.
Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant was one of the leading figures of India’s freedom movement and subsequently played a major role in public administration and nation-building. He was Premier of the United Provinces, the first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and later Union Home Minister. His public life was closely associated with national unity, governance and the strengthening of India’s institutions.
The commemorative programme will continue on September 10, Pandit Pant’s 139th birth anniversary, with celebrations planned at 72 locations across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including schools, colleges and institutions that bear his name.
