India’s Special Forces: History and Future of Special Forces

Lt Gen PC Katoch, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SC, a third generation army officer, superannuated as Director General Information Systems of Indian Army in 2009. A Special Forces officer, he participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan War, commanded a Special Forces Battalion in Sri Lanka, a Brigade on Siachen Glacier, a Division in Ladakh and a Strike Corps in South Western Theatre. He has authored over 200 articles on international relations, strategic affairs, national security, military, technical and topical issues. A leading defence expert, he is a visiting fellow in foreign Think Tanks and has presented papers in USA (at Washington DC and Hawaii), China, Taiwan and Maldives. He is a Council Member of the United Services Institution of India and held the Field Marshal KM Cariappa Chair of Excellence for the year 2011-2012.

Saikat Datta is a journalist who began his career in December 1996 and has worked with several publications like The Indian Express, the Outlook magazine and the DNA newspaper. He is currently heading the New Delhi Political and Business Bureau of DNA. He has authored scores of articles on Indian Special Forces and presented papers at seminars organized by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, the Centre for Air Power Studies and the National Security Guards. He has also been awarded the International Press Institute Award for investigative journalism, the National RTI award in the journalism category and the Jagan Phadnis Memorial Award for investigative journalism.