What is cold start doctrine? This was the question which I was asking myself after attending a seminar on 1971 war between India and Pakistan. To a question asked by a person sitting in audience, the presenter of the seminar asked to refer cold start doctrine. I and my friends were not aware about cold start doctrine which sounds very interesting. After doing some research I came to know that, cold start doctrine is compilation of practical and imaginary tactics to carry out a quick integrated battle. Integrated battle means, Army, Air Force and navy carrying out operation to achieve same objective. The primary objective of cold start is to produce atmosphere for limited war. According to the doctrine, to achieve the objective there is a need to re divide the army into integrated battle groups. The main aim is to carry out several strikes within 72 to 96 hours and going approximately fifty to seventy kilometers inside the enemy’s territory with the support of navy and...

A statement on the shortage of officers, Persons Below Officers Rank (PBOR) including the shortage of pilots in the Airforce as on date service-wise is given hereunder: The extent of shortage of officers is around 12,349 in the Army, 1,818 in the Navy and 837 in the Air Force. The shortage of Pilots in Air Force is about 426. There is no significant problem of shortage of Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) in the Armed Forces. The recruitment of officers in the Armed Forces is done on All India basis and not state-wise. The data relating to recruitment of officers and PBOR during the last two years and the current year are given at Appendix I and II respectively. The existing recruitment centres for recruitment of PBOR are considered sufficient. Therefore, at present, there is no proposal to open new recruitment centres for recruitment of PBOR in the three Services. A number of steps have been taken to reduce shortage of officers and to motivate the youth to join the Armed Forces....