India setting up Defence Cyber Agency to tackle virtual war
Kolkata, Jan 15 (IBNS): Keeping in mind the uprising threats in the virtual world, a cyber agency under the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) has started taking shape in India, a senior army official said on Tuesday.
Attending Indian Army's 71st 'Army Day' at Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata's Fort William, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Eastern Command, Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane, said that the country was working on the formation of a Defence Cyber Agency to tackle threats in the virtual space.
"The Defence Cyber Agency, which is being set up to look after all the threats in the cyber domain, will be an inter-services agency and it will function under the IDS, which is responsible for fostering coordination and enabling prioritisation across the different branches of the Indian Armed Forces," GOC-in-C of Eastern Army Command, MM Naravane, told the media.
"The initial proposal of the cyber agency will have nearly 200 staff from the three services- Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force, who will serve under the command of the Chairman, Chief of Staff Committee and work closely with the National Cyber Security Advisor," Naravane added.
The senior Army official said that the DCA, which will be based out of IDS headquarters, will be headed by a two-star rank officer and the agency will have dedicated units with the army commands later.
Meanwhile, talking on the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) issue, MM Naravane ruled out any possibility of fallout of the NRC when its final list would be published.
When Naravane was asked about the reason behind the high suicide rate in the Indian Army, the official said that they will look into protecting the mental health of the defence personnel.
Suicide rate in the Indian Army is the highest among three armed forces in the country and as many as 104 military personnel committed suicide in 2018.
Earlier, observing the 'Army Day', Eastern Command's GOC-in-C, Naravane, laid wreaths at the war memorial, Vijay Smarak, at Fort William to pay tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in service to the nation.
The 'Army Day' is celebrated every year on January 15 in recognition of Lt General (later Field Marshal) Kodandera Madappa Cariappa taking over as the first Commander-in-Chief of armed forces in independent India on this day in 1949.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)
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