I wrote a post in 2011 titled ” Day of the Generals ” in this site , [copied below] referring to an Initiative by the CII [ Confederation of Indian Industry ] in organizing the very first Army- Industry Partnership Seminar in New Delhi in 1996. I had the privilege of reading a paper titled ‘ Share Our Brain Ware ” in this seminar. The focus of my paper was to brief the Industry representatives about the basket of skills available with Defense Service Officers which can be gainfully used by the Civil Industry , providing an opportunity to the service officers who retire at a relatively younger age [ in comparison to their civilian counterpart in the government] with a second career option,if otherwise qualified. During the interactions at the seminar, it was felt that the services HQ could arrange some management orientation programs under the Resettlement Directorate to ease such transition to the Industry Jobs.
Today,Colonel Rajesh Gopal who is doing a certificate program at IIM Indore called on me to ask my help in arranging guest speakers for their program using my contacts with the Industry. I was very happy to note that a lot of ground has since been covered from 1996 in facilitating the Defense – Industry transition which we discussed way back in the CII seminar. I learned from Col Gopal that 59 officers from the three services are undergoing a six months rigorous training at IIM Indore ,arranged by the Defense HQ and funded by them with part contribution by the participants [25 % ] for the benefit of those officers who have taken premature/regular retirement from the services. This program has gone on for some time and recognized widely by the Industry as is clear from the record of placements made so far after the training. This is really encouraging news. I promised Col Gopal that I will do my best in forwarding the profiles of the participants to Industry leaders whom I know at Hyderabad based on my interactions with them during the last twenty years.