Amid the lingering border row in eastern Ladakh, Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Thursday said after the incident of May 2020 his force thought if there was a case of "rebalancing" and four years since then, it has gone through its first stage while its second stage is "required".
In an interaction session at Bharat Shakti Defence Conclave in New Delhi, he also said he has declared Year of Technology Absorption for 2025 too, so the journey becomes "more emphatic", while Year of Transformation will be valid for the whole decade spanning 2022-2032.
The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in a standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points.
The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
During the session, General Dwivedi was asked about the overall challenges for the India Army going forward and learning from the border row in eastern Ladakh.
"First is the unsettled borders. That's a challenge which has been handed over and will continue for a longer period. Even a tactical operation has a ramification. A small incident can lead up to major flare-up. So, that becomes a major responsibility when you know that tensions are high on all the sides," the Army chief said.
"Then we are looking at two-and-a-half fronts, two borders we are already aware of. The half-front that is there for over a period of time, is continuing," he added.
And, it's something the Indian Army has to look into. And, that is in conjunction with the CAPFs, the Rashtriya Rifles, Assam Rifles and so on and so forth.
"That we are tackling in a different manner".
"But, what it means that after April or May 2020, we had to think about is there is a case of rebalancing... We are also looking, is there a case of rebalancing. They have already gone through the stage of rebalancing 1.0."
"Audience here must be aware of what all steps taken under it. Is there a requirement for rebalancing 2.0, the answer is, yes," General Dwivedi said.
Time, space and resources is something the army needs to look into. But before that there has to be a "psychological orientation", he said.
"What it means, you have to start looking at seriously as far as your...operational situations are concerned, whether you are prepared for it. Is your equipment ready for those kind of a deployment, is your training attuned to that, and all these things, and we are naming it (rebalancing) 1.5, and we are working in a big way. And, we are reorienting are higher command courses," the general said.
He emphasised that the location of the upcoming Army Commanders Conference will be "indicative of our intent".
The Army chief further said the infrastructure along the northern front, is something that needs a "major attention, so that we are working in a big way".
He also said the national focus towards border infrastructure is "very, very high".
On the lessons from the row along the northern border, the Army chief said, so was "the grey zone" existing before April 2020, "it was existing".
"Were we prepared for it, yes we were generally aware of it, but it was Doklam (incident) which made us awake," he added.
Praising the 1.2-million-strong force, he said, "I must thank my predecessors because they handed over a very health army."
General Dwivedi was also asked about the progress on achieving jointness and integration in the armed forces as envisioned by the government.
"Whenever there are training institutes, how many can be made joint training institutes, logistic nodes how many can be made joint nodes, central maintenance system..these things are being looked into. Also, since present CDS has taken over, speed (on the process) has gone up to three times than what was earlier," he said.
