Executive Council
PRESIDENT
A.K. Antony
Mr. A.K. Antony is India’s Minister of Defence.
An Advocate by profession, Mr. Antony started his political career as a Student Activist of the Kerala Students Union. He has held many important political assignments: President, Kerala Pradesh Youth Congress Committee, President and General Secretary of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, General Secretary of All India Congress Committee and Member, Congress Working Committee. He was first elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970 and was the Chief Minister of Kerala thrice during 1977-78, 1995-96 and 2001-2004. He was also Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Legislative Assembly during 1996-2001. Mr. Anthony was Member Rajya Sabha twice from 1985-1991 and 1991-1995. He was Union Minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution during 1994-1995. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 from Kerala.
Mr. Antony edited a Malayalam Weekly Kalasala during 1964-65 and later a Malayalam Daily Veekshanam from 1978-1982.
MEMBERS
Naresh Chandra
Ambassador Naresh Chandra, former Indian Cabinet Secretary and Ambassador of India to the United States, has served India in many different capacities since he commenced his civil service career in 1956.
In his early career he was Chief Secretary in the State of Rajasthan; Commonwealth Secretariat Adviser on Export Industrialization and Policy; Adviser to Governor of Jammu & Kashmir; and successively Secretary in the Ministries of Water Resources, Defence, and Home in the Federal Indian Government.
In December 1990 he became Cabinet Secretary, the highest post in the Indian Civil Service. He retired from that position in July 1992. He was also a Member of the Indian Space Commission and the Indian Atomic Energy Commission from 1990 to 1992.
In August 1992, he was appointed as Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister of India. He was subsequently appointed as the Governor of the State of Gujarat. He was Ambassador of India to the United States from 1996 to 2001. In July 2003, he was appointed to head a Committee to prepare a roadmap for the Indian Civil Aviation sector.
Ambassador Chandra's long official association with the United States spans more than three decades, beginning with his first visit to this country in 1963-64. He has been the Indian Co-chairman of the US-India Technology Group, and Member of the Indo-US Economic Sub-Commission, which lent him valuable insight into the broad range of Indo-US relations. Following the economic liberalisation program in India, he led the first official delegation to the US in 1992 to promote US investments in India. He has been deeply involved in several important conferences organised subsequently in the US by business development groups.
Ambassador Chandra is a post-graduate Mathematics alumnus of the prestigious Allahabad University, where he also had a brief stint at teaching.
TCA Rangachari
T C A Rangachari was India's Ambassador to Algeria, France and Germany before resigning from the Indian Foreign Service in 2006. Since then, he has been extensively writing and lecturing on many topical issues relating to India's foreign policy, strategic and security matters
SP Tyagi
Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi was the 20th Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force (2004-07). Previously, he had the distinction of commanding the three Air Commands -- Central, South Western and Western Air Command. He excelled himself during the 1965 and 1971 wars. He also served as the Defence attaché at the Indian Consulate in Saudi Arabia; Director Operations (Air Defence), ACAS (Intelligence) and ACAS (Ops).
P.S. Das
Vice Admiral Das retired from the Indian Navy in 1998 as Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command. Admiral Das has more than 170 published articles to his credit in newspapers and journals of repute and has been Co-Chair of the Maritime Working Group of the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific (CSCAP). He is a visiting speaker at all important Colleges of the Armed Forces including the National Defence College , the College of Defence Management , at War Colleges of the Army, Navy and Air Force and at the Defence Services Staff College .
Admiral Das is a participant in several prestigious Track II India-Japan, India-USA and India-China strategic discussions in those countries and at home. He is a graduate of the Naval War College, USA, and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He has served as member of the National Security Advisory Board in the office of the Prime Minister.
YM Bammi
Gen. Bammi has over 37 years of military experience in senior and leadership capacity in the Indian Army. During his military career, he has been President of the Gorkha Brigade of India; Director General of Assam Rifles; GOC of 1 Strike Corps; Defence Advisor at the Indian High Commission in Malaysia and Singapore; Instructor with the Royal Bhutan Army; Commanding Officer of infantry battalion in J&K; General Staff Officer with leading elements of the Indian Army in Bangladesh during the 1971 War; Rifle Company Commander during the 1965 War; Adjutant and Company Commander during the 1962 War; etc.
Gen. Bammi has a Doctorate in Military Studies from the Choudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and a Masters in Defence Sciences from the University of Madras. His expertise includes South Asian security, insurgency, nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and counter-terrorism as well as the political and military landscape of South and South East Asia. He has a number of publications to his credit including The Gorkhas of the Indian Army and The Impregnable Conquered: Kargil 1999.
R P Kaushik
Dr. R P Kaushik has taught at Delhi University as well as Jawaharlal Nehru University from where he retired as Professor from the Centre for American and West European Studies, School of International Studies, in 2002.
He is a distinguished scholar in Social Sciences and Humanities, having specialized in American and West European History, Political Science and International Relations.
A well-known educationist, Professor Kaushik has served as Chairman of Governing Bodies in Delhi University Colleges. He held important administrative positions at JNU including membership of Executive Council. He as Member and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the UGC Area Studies and Programme (1995-1998); and Chairman, Finance Committee, Indian Institute for Advanced Studies, Shimla (IIAS) (1997-1999). He is Chairman, Academic Planning Committee, Indira Gandhi Institute of Research and Development, Mumbai; and President, Fulbright Alumni Association, Delhi. He was awarded the Senior Fulbright Smith Mundt Fellowship in 1972-73 at University of California, Berkeley.
Author of several books and articles, he has visited the US, Europe and Africa in the course of his Fulbright Fellowships, lecture tours and also as Visiting Professor to American universities; Columbia University, New York, University of California, Berkeley; Chicago University, Chicago and Princeton University.
He was Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan from 2005 to 2007.
Gulshan Luthra
A senior journalist with 33 years experience both in India and abroad, Mr. Gulshan Luthra has served in India as well as a Foreign Correspondent in the Middle East. He set up India’s first overseas news network, and has covered events from Iran to Morocco since the turbulent 1980s onwards. Widely traveled, he writes on International Affairs and Defence and has contributed to newspapers in Europe and the Middle East.
He has a keen insight on Middle East affairs, thanks to his association with the region for more than 20 years.
Gulshan Luthra also anchors and produces TV programmes. He is Editor of India Strategic defence magazine.
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
Ranjan Mathai
Shri Ranjan Mathai is Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.
Born on May 24, 1952, Shri Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974, after completing Post Graduate studies in Political Science at the University of Poona.
He has served in Indian Missions in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels. As Joint Secretary (BSM) in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi (January 1995 to February 1998), he headed the Division dealing with India's relations with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives.
He was the Ambassador of India to Israel from February 1998 to June 2001 and to Qatar from August 2001 to July 2005. He next held the post of Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK in London, from August 2005 to January 2007. He last served as the Ambassador of India to France (since January 2007), with concurrent accreditation to the Principality of Monaco.
Shashi Kant Sharma
Shri Shashi Kant Sharma is Defence Secretary, Ministry of Defence.
Arvind Gupta
Dr. Arvind Gupta is Director General at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.Click here for detailed profile.
Rumel Dahiya
Brig. Rumel Dahiya is Deputy Director General at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.Click here for detailed profile.
STAFF REPRESENTATIVE
Smruti S. Pattanaik
Dr. Smruti S. Pattanaik is Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Click for detail profile