The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in association with Telegraph co-Sponsored by Century Ply, Berger Paints and LIC, organized yet another edition of its “Think” Lecture series, the speaker being Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd) on 6th December, 2017 at The Bengal Lounge. Air Chief Marshal Raha spoke on “Statecraft and Diplomacy: The Role of Military Power”. Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Vice President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry introduced ACM Raha to the audience and briefly touched upon the history of the Think Lecture Series.

ACM Raha, in his lecture presented a holistic perspective of the Indian Armed forces and their services and involvement in the socio, political and economic sectors of the country. He began his lecture with the quality of education imparted at The National Defence Academy, which he pegged to be at par with the IITs and IIMs and also harped on the importance of Extra Curricular Activities in education. Talking about his experience and journey, he stated that life of a pilot in the training phase is most demanding and thereafter is challenging and adventurous and yet very satisfying.

Talking about statecraft and diplomacy, ACM Raha mentioned that the major role of military is in the resolution of conflicts and in ensuring the security of the country. He suggested that balanced growth across all sectors is important for economic development and the result of the growth should benefit all sections in the society. Generation of employment, development of science and technology and research and development were the key areas as suggested by him for the development of the nation. He highlighted upon the role of military growth in the development of the economy because of the geo political location of the country and the relation of India with the neighbouring countries. He stated that in the contemporary context, threat spectrum rages between conventional warfare to terrorism which is a form of unconventional warfare. Hence to counter such threat it is imperative to increase the military strength and have a strong reserve of resources in the form of ships, submarines, guns, rockets missiles and military hardware. ACM Raha emphasized upon the need for indigenous production of military equipment through revival of DRDO and other lab services to boost the Indian economy rather than importing from abroad.

In further defining the role of military in statecraft and diplomacy, he stated that Indian Armed Forces is also known as Indian Defence Services because of the service it renders to the nation in hours of need like natural calamities, demonetization, elections and in various such occasions. It also helps the country strengthen foreign diplomatic relations by aiding the Government to reach out to them in hours of need.

The session concluded with Mr. Deb A Mukherjee providing the closing remarks and presenting a memento to Air Chief Marshal Raha on behalf of The Bengal Chamber and Mr. Anoop Hoon, Chairperson, Marketing and Brand Committee, BCC&I delivering the formal vote of thanks .