CDS Gen Anil Chauhan inaugurates 2nd Indian Military Heritage Festival

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, inaugurated the 2nd Indian Military Heritage Festival 2024 in New Delhi on 8 November 2024. The Chief of the Indian Army, General Upendra Dwivedi, the Chief of Naval Staff, Dinesh Tripathi, and the Chief of Air Staff, Amar Preet Singh, were also present at the inauguration of the Festival. The first Indian Military Heritage Festival was held on 21-22 November 2023 in New Delhi.

Who organises the  Indian Military Heritage Festival? 

The  Indian Military Heritage Festival is organised by the United Service Institution of India (USI). 

The Union Ministry of Defence, Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Culture, Arunachal Pradesh Government, Ladakh Government’s Tourism department, and the British High Commission are supporting the 2nd Indian Military Heritage Festival.

The United Service, founded in 1870 during British rule, is one of the oldest and premier think tanks on national security and defence services, based in New Delhi.

Participants and aim of the Indian Military Heritage Festival 

The Festival focuses on Indian Military Heritage and traditions, Security and Self-Reliance, and Atmanirbhar Bharat in the defence and military domains. 

The festival brings together Indian and foreign defence companies, think tanks, associations, and high-net-worth individuals committed to national security.

The general public, including students, academicians, and research scholars, also participates in the festival.

The festival highlights the dynamics of Indian national security, especially its strategic culture, military heritage, education, modernisation of security forces and Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, a platform is provided to the designers, developers, manufacturers of defence weapon systems and the security forces to put forward their innovative ideas to develop an ecosystem for indigenisation and self-reliance in defence technology.

Project Shaurya Gatha 

Project Shaurya Gatha, launched by the United Service Institution of India in collaboration with the Department of Military Affairs, Union Ministry of Defence, was also launched during the 2nd Indian Military and Heritage Festival.

Under Project Gatha, the glorious Indian military heritage will be conserved and popularised through books and tourism.

Several military publications, such as "Because of This: A History of the Indo-Pak Air War December 1971" by Air Mshl Vikram Singh (Retd) and "Silent Weapons, Deadly Secrets: Unveiling the Bioweapons Arms Race" by Dr. Mrinmayee Bhushan, were also released.