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Lt. Gen. (Retd) V. R. Raghavan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM
President, Centre for Security Analysis (CSA)
Director, Delhi Policy Group (DPG)
Expertise: Security & Peace Studies, Nuclear Deterrence and Non-Proliferation,
CBMs, Non-Traditional Security, South Asia, Military History & War Studies.
After a distinguished career in the Indian Army, where he was decorated on three occasions, he retired as Director General of Military Operations. His combat experience included operations in wars with Pakistan and China and in counter-insurgency campaigns.
The General joined DPG as the founding Director. In this capacity, he successfully conceptualized and implemented projects on South Asian Comprehensive Security focusing on the political, economic, environment security issues and on Non-Traditional Security. He led the programme on Nuclear Policy Stewardship aimed at sharpening the nuclear debate in India for introducing restraint and responsibility in nuclear policy. As President, CSA, he has led programmes on peninsular India's security perspectives, relations with South East Asia and on Civil Society -Governance interface, and on the conflict in Sri Lanka.
He is Council Member, International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London. He was a Commissioner of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission chaired by Dr. Hans Blix; Visiting Fellow at CISAC, Stanford University and the Henry L. Stimson Centre. He is an elected member of the Council of United Services Institution of India. He was a member of the Committee to review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The General currently is advisor and research consultant to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament convened by the Governments of Australia and Japan.
Gen. Raghavan has addressed conferences at the Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad and the Islamabad Policy Research Institute; the Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore and Global Strategic Review Conference in Geneva. He has made presentations and chaired sessions in conferences and seminars in India, South Asia, South-East Asia, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Europe and the United States.
The General has authored books amongst which, the monograph, India's Need for Strategic Balance; essay on Limited War and Nuclear Escalation in South Asia, the books Infantry in India, and Siachen-Conflict without End are widely known. He has edited more than dozen books. His articles have been carried in leading newspapers, journals, magazines in India and internationally. He is a Guest Lecturer at Indian War colleges and the National Defence College. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Science and Army Staff College, U.K. in 1968.