High on promise: Can the Defence Planning Committee turn things around?

The DPC could overcome a long-standing weakness in India's strategic thinking on defence, which has so far been dealt with in silos and often lacked full political approval

Last week, the Union government notified setting up a body called Defence Planning Committee (DPC), with a broad mandate. The DPC is expected to prepare draft reports on national security strategy and international defence engagement as well as provide a road map for building a defence manufacturing ecosystem and a strategy to boost defence exports. The DPC will be chaired by the National Security Advisor (NSA) and will comprise the foreign secretary, the chairman of chiefs of staff committee, the Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs, and the secretary (expenditure) in the finance ministry. The DPC will submit its reports