Colonel Pradeep Singh Chhonkar, SM, VSM, joined IDSA as Research Fellow in August 2016. He is a serving Infantry officer. He has rich experience of Counter Insurgency operations in both North East and Jammu &Kashmir. Among other appointments, he has served as an Instructor in the Indian Military Academy and on staff in the Directorate General of Military Intelligence, where he was responsible for integrated intelligence analysis particularly pertaining to insurgency in the North East. He has undertaken a number of research projects in various domains related to insurgency dynamics in North East India.

The officer has done research work on a wide range of topics including “India’s Nuclear Deterrence Policy” in 2004 and “Emergence of Red Corridor in the Indian Heartland: Implications on National Security, Should the Army Wait or Get Involved” in 2012. He attended the Brazilian Army International Strategic Studies Course at Rio de Janerioin 2014 where he wrote a number of papers and did research on “New Paradigm of Terrorism in 21st Century”.He has written papers on varied subjects including “Global Environmental Governance” (2012), “Rise of MFOs in Northeast India” (2013), “Naga Insurgency” and “Insurgency in Manipur” (2014), “Political and Economic Consequences of the Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo” (2014), “Defence Industry and Economy: Impact on Military Effectiveness” (2014), “Reconfiguration of the World Order in the Twenty First Century” (2014), “Strategic Challenges of the Pan Amazon in the 21st Century” (2014), “United Nations Security Council Reform – A Need or an Agenda of Developing Countries” (2014) and “Demographic Inversion in Assam” (2015).

At IDSA, his research focus is on Internal Security issues with a particular focus on Northeast India and other emerging threats.