I do not know how many of the officers and war correspondents of my day would be around now. The ones I know and recognise with a certain amount of respect and appreciation of their war reporting qualities include M. L. Kotru, who was then reporting for The Statesman, Cecil Victor, who was then reporting for Patriot, K. K. Sharma who used to report for The Statesman and of course my younger colleagues Subhash Kirpekar (now no more) and Janak Singh reporting for The Times of India. In fact, the two newspapers that were at one time considered the newspapers of the Defence Forces were The Times of India and The Statesman. These newspapers not only covered wars and the activities of the Defence forces in peacetime more extensively than others but were also ahead in the coverage of sports, social welfare and cultural activities of the Defence forces. Adventure sports, of course, was on top of the bill as the prime lead area for the Defence forces. Most of the leaders of the major mountaineering expeditions, including the 1965 Everest Expedition, were mostly led by Army or Navy officers, sometimes only by Air Force officers.

Why I recall some of these traditions of the defence forces during peacetime is because I know this finest army of the world was built through good training and command during peacetime and a great tradition which was glorified by courage, valour and sacrifice. I am sure that the present chief of staff, now also saddled with the great responsibility of building the various structures of the nuclear command, will uphold the heritage and honour of a great army of a great country.

Look at the record of this army since India won freedom. From the word ‘go’, the army had to stand up against criminal and immoral raiders, rapists and pillagers, sanctified by crooked military thinkers from across the border as "crusaders" for "religion and self-determination." In adverse circumstances, the Indian Army held the raiding dogs at bay. Then, in 1947, 1962, 1965, 1971 and Kargil, the enemies of India even tried to threaten, bully and bulldoze this country. The brave Indian Army always called their bluff. Frankly speaking, neither our incorrigible warmongering neighbour, nor some of his unprincipled patrons across the world, seemed to realise the truth that India was a peace-loving country but with a great defender of peace and freedom in its armed forces. The propagandists and even their patrons know fully well that India never ever tried to grab the land and wealth of its smaller neighbours. If the Indian Army was even remotely like the Pakistani Army, or for that matter. even like the Myanmar or the Bangladesh armies, with the same kind of mental make-up and word of command from political-generals, perhaps some of the neighbouring countries might have had to cut their maps far smaller than they are today. No army in the world ever returned intact and safe more than 90,000 soldiers captured during the surrender of Niazi’s forces in erstwhile East Pakistan. It was only the Indian Army. The occupied land, running into hundreds of square kilometres and an entire defeated army were returned to Pakistan. Instead of being grateful, the military adventurers built the world’s most unprincipled and brainwashed military machine in the world. The Pakistan Army, compared with the Indian Army, would emerge as an army of destruction, communal hatred and aggression on both sides of the frontier. The Indian Army in contrast was quite capable, but refrained from hot-pursuit of cross-border terrorists, and observed restraint. That made it one of the most balanced and level-headed armies in the world. And now, I want to come straight to the cause of the new pride with which the Indian Army has filled my heart. This year, on Army Day, India did declare with transparency and a full sense of accountability that "Now we have an army with a proper Nuclear Command." The signal must go to the terrorists, sponsors of terrorism and the terrorist states, "Give up your puerile dreams of destroying India and its great defender, the Indian Army. Better look to the peace, progress and the alleviation of poverty and illiteracy of your own people."

It gave me pleasure that the new Chief of Army Staff, Gen. N. C. Vij, made it amply clear in his Army Day address that there will be no cut in forces along the border. Speaking to newspersons after taking the salute at the impressive Army Day Parade in New Delhi, he said that rather than reducing the force strength, the posture of the force along the Jammu and Kashmir border would be reinforced. He also talked about the induction of new weapons systems into the Indian Army.