Defense Minister launches USI collaborative initiative Project UDBHAV

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh launched 'Project UDBHAV' during the inauguration of the Indian Military Heritage Festival in New Delhi on 21 October 2023.

• On this occasion, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Air Force Chief Air Chief, Marshal VR Choudhary, Vice Chief of Navy Vice Admiral SJ Singh, Chief of Integrated Defense Staff Lieutenant General JP Mathew, Director General of Integrated Services Institute (USI), Government of India Major General BK Sharma (Retd) and other dignitaries were present.

Project UDBHAV:

• Project UDBHAV or Udbhav, is a collaborative initiative between the Indian Army and USI, which is an attempt to explore the roots of India's ancient military ideas.
• 'Udbhav', meaning 'origin', acknowledges the old scriptures and writings of our nation. These centuries-old scriptures contain deep knowledge that can benefit modern military strategies.

Objective of Project UDBHAV:

• The project aims to utilize ancient knowledge with contemporary military practices, creating a unique and holistic approach to address modern security challenges.
• It is a visionary initiative of the Indian Army that seeks to integrate age-old knowledge with contemporary military pedagogy.

Benefits from Project UDBHAV:

• Project UDBHAV will facilitate a deeper understanding of our knowledge systems and philosophies.
• Project Udbhav will also aim to understand their enduring association, relevance and applicability in modern times.

The ancient Indian knowledge system is part of a 5000 year old civilizational heritage, which has given great importance to knowledge.

The project witnesses the emergence of an astonishingly vast collection of intellectual texts, the world's largest collection of manuscripts, thinkers and opinions across multiple fields of knowledge.

In the process of acquiring knowledge from Indian ancient heritage, texts like Chanakya's Arthashastra, the classical Tamil text Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar etc. have an important role.