Team MARS

Lt Gen JS Sandhu

PVSM, UYSM,AVSM, VSM (Retd)

Prasident

Lt Gen Jaswinder Singh Sandhu was commissioned into the Gorkha Rifles Regiment in June 1980 and has served along the Northern and Eastern frontiers of our vast nation, which included service in Siachen Glacier, along the Line of Control in J&K, in Assam and in Manipur. Having spent more than a decade in J&K, he has held extremely challenging command responsibilities in Kupwara and Srinagar. After the post-Burhan Wani agitation in Kashmir in 2016, as Chinar Corps Commander in Kashmir, he led the Army to bring the situation under control. His stay in Srinagar in 2017 was epochal, and showed direction in targeting the many anti-national elements therein.After the Nepal earthquake in April 2015, he led the Indian Armed Forces Task Force in Kathmandu, for earthquake relief under Operation Maitri. For over a month he worked in sync with the Nepal Army, helped in rescue and relief and earned an enviable name for our country.Within the Army, Gen Sandhu is recognized for professionalism, empathy, pragmatism and as a leader of great repute. He has trained many officers and men at important institutions of the Army, like Infantry School, Defence Services Staff College and Army War College. He has held important staff positions in Army Headquarters and at Indian Embassy, Nepal. He was the Military Secretary prior to his superannuation. He has indeed been a role model in his illustrious career. Presently he is the Chief Editor of Medals and Ribbons, a quarterly defence magazine.
email: sandysixfif@yahoo.co.in

Maj Gen Binoy Poonnen (Retd)

AVSM, VSM

Secretary

Born in October 1956 in Pune, in the Poonnen family - a family of repute from Trivandrum which has a prominent representation in the Indian Armed Forces. Commissioned into Infantry (13 MAHAR REGIMENT) in 1978, attended a large number of courses including the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Higher Command and National Defence College.
Commanded 13 MAHAR in an operational area and the unit was conferred with the Chief of Army Staff Unit Citation. As a Brigadier, commanded an enhanced Mountain Brigade in an operational area and as a Major General commanded a Mountain Division which was deployed in a counter insurgency role. Was awarded the AVSM and VSM during his command tenures.
The General officer has held various appointments related to staff and instructional tenures including Instructor at Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade, Colonel Administration of an Infantry Division, Instructor and Col General Staff at the Army War College, Mhow. On completion of the National Defence College Course, he was posted to Army Headquarters as head of the Foreign Division of the Indian Army dealing with Defence Cooperation and Defence Diplomacy with foreign countries. He was also the Chief of Staff of a Corps in the Western Theatre.
The General officer has had numerous foreign exposures including Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force, Bhutan as part of the Joint Training Team and Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. He also has the distinction of heading the Indian Army Delegation to France, Myanmar (twice), Mongolia and Bangladesh.
email: binoypoonnen13m@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 70489 98562

Maj Gen Sarb Jit Singh Deusi (Retd)

VSM

Treasurer

Major General Sarb Jit Singh Deusi was commissioned in the Maratha Light Infantry in June 1984. He commanded his unit first in the counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and later in Andaman & Nicobar Islands under the Tri-Services Command when tsunami struck in Dec 2004. His unit was the first responder in the rescue and relief operations across the islands. During May 2005, the officer represented India in the Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster Relief Workshop organised by the US in Thailand.
On promotion to the rank of Brigadier in the year 2011, he commanded an infantry brigade along the Western Border and conducted concept validation for application of restructured reserve formations to enhance operational effectiveness. He commanded a mountain division in North Sikkim during the Doklam Crisis and concurrently managed the Gorkha Land agitation in West Bengal and Sikkim. He had a stint in Army War College, Mhow where he was responsible for training of senior military leaders including officers from the foreign armed forces in the domain of tactical operations and information warfare. He retired as Additional Director General of Assam Rifles on 30 Sep 21.
Major General Sarb Jit is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, College of Defence Management, Secunderabad and National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi. After the NDC course in 2014, he headed the project for setting up of Indian Defence University, visited foreign NDUs and participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Military Representatives Conference. During his command assignments, he has planned and supervised joint training with US, UK and Bangladesh armies. His areas of interest include counter insurgency operations, super high altitude warfare, disaster management, development of military infrastructure, higher leadership in crisis and international affairs.

Maj Gen JP Alex (Retd)

Vice President

Major General JP Alex retired from the Indian Army in 2012, after 38 years of active service. Being an officer from the Infantry, he has served for considerable periods along all our borders. He has held all types of assignments and tasks during his career span, which included command of active units and formations of the Indian Army as well as several instructional assignments at many prestigious training institutions of the Indian Army. He has also held a tenure as the Dean of the Faculty of Studies at the Army War College. He is widely travelled both within the country and abroad during his service in the Army. He is an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy, Pune. He, besides other academic qualifications holds a PhD from DAVV, Indore.
email: jp.alex391@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 78984 38021

Maj Gen (Dr) AK Bardalai (Retd)

Joint Secretory

Major General (Dr) AK Bardalai, commissioned into the Indian Army on 11 June 1977, is a graduate of the National Defence Academy, Pune (India) and Defence Services Staff College Wellington (India), and an alumnus of Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
General Bardalai was a Brigade Major of a brigade in Sri Lanka, commanded an infantry battalion in Siachen Glacier, and attended Higher Command Course at Army War College (Mhow). Post his command of an infantry brigade in the mountainous terrain and counter-terrorism operations in upper Assam, he was posted to Headquarters Eastern Army Command as the Brigadier General Staff (operations). He commanded an infantry division in the western theatre of India from May 2010 to July 2011 and was the Commandant of the Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan from October 2011 to January 2014.
General earlier served as a UN Military Observer in Angola, Director of Staff Duties 3 (UN Peacekeeping) at Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army), a Research Fellow (UN Peacekeeping) with United Service Institution (USI) of India, New Delhi and the Deputy Head of the Mission and Deputy Force Commander in UNIFIL (Lebanon) from March 2008 to March 2010. Post-retirement from the army on 30th April 2014, he is engaged in the academic study of UN Peace Operations and is a Distinguished Fellow of USI of India. He holds a PhD in UN Peace Operations from Tilburg University (the Netherlands).
email: tonybardalai@gmail.com
X: @akbardalai
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/maj-gen-ak-bardalai-veteran-93157614
Mobile: +91 99100 58411
ORCID

Maj Gen MS Pillai, (Retd)

SM

Executive Member

Maj Gen MS Pillai was commissioned into the Corps of Engrs on 13 June 1976. He is a graduate of NDA, Pune, DSSC Wellington, HDMC Secunderabad and NDC New Delhi. He was a Military observer in two UN Missions in Central America. He commanded an Engr Regt as part of a STRIKE RAPID formation. His Staff appointments include AQ at NDA and Col MS-12 at Army HQ. His instructional appointments include CME (Combat Engineering) and CDM ("Operational Research" and "System Analysis").
As a Brigadier, he was Chief Engineer of Project Dantak, looking after infrastructure projects in Bhutan. Thereafter, he was posted in HQ DGBR as the head of all technical and financial planning, of all the road projects in India and abroad, including Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
As MGGS (Trg) in HQ ARTRAC, the General Officer was actively involved in formulation of training policy for all arms and services of the Indian Army, including joint training policy with Navy and Airforce. The General Officer was actively involved in 'GIS' training, within the Army, and also coordination of this aspect with "DIGIT" at CME Pune. After retirement, he was involved in implementation of a GIS project for rural roads in Punjab. In this connection he travelled to nine states in India to study various GIS projects being done in these states. This innovative method of data collection done during this project, is being followed by other states. This Rural Roads GIS project was also presented to an international gathering in 2017, in San Diego, USA. The General officer is actively involved in the sports of sailing and has travelled all over the world in this connection.
email: somapillai1954@gmail.com
Mobile : +91 82838 10579

Col.(Dr) Dinesh Kumar (Retd)

Member

Colonel (Dr) Dinesh Kumar (Retd) is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and holds a PhD in Information Technology (Cyber Security). With more than three decades of experience in the Corps of Signals including tenures in the Senior Faculty in Military College of Telecommunications Engineering, Mhow, he is presently a Subject Matter Expert in Emerging Military Technologies and Cyber Security at military institutions and a Professor of Practice at IPS Academy, Indore.

Col (Dr) Virendra Mishra (Retd)

Member

Col (Dr) Virendra Mishra (Retd), from the Corps of Signals is a Fellow of IETE and a Cyber Electronic Warfare Subject Matter Expert with over three decades of experience in EW. He had commanded an EW battalion and served in EW establishments for over a decade including holding of a Senior Faculty assignment in EW Wing, MCTE. He has also been the Commander All Arms Wing at MCTE. A member of Mhow Analysis and Research Society presently, he is a Professor of Practice in MediCaps University, Indore, and visiting faculty in EW Wing at MCTE Mhow.

Col S Mohan (Retd)

Member

Col S Mohan embarked on his military journey in June 1988, stepping into the illustrious RAJ RIF regiment. He holds a master's degree in Information Technology. He pursued a second master's degree in Remote Sensing & GIS, a field vital for modern military operations. This pursuit led him to the University of Twente in the Netherlands, where he honed his expertise in application of Remote Sensing and GIS technology in military operations.
His tenures as a Subject Matter Expert in GIS includes his services as a System Analyst at Command Information Decision Support System (CIDSS) at, New Delhi and a decade long instructional tenure at Faculty of Computer Technology & Systems, MCTE, Mhow wherein he trained officers in GIS. He has also been part of the design team for Battle Field Management Systems (BMS) Project and also the team conceptualizing the development of Army Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Col Satish S Kekre (Retd)

Member

Col Satish S Kekre is an alumnus of the Officers Training Academy and passionately began his journey in the Indian Army in March 1991. He holds two master's degrees, one in Statistics from DAVV, Indore and second in Politics and International Relations from Pondicherry University, Puducherry. He has also done MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Panjab University, Chandigarh.
He in his more than three decades in the Indian Army has served along our borders as also in areas infested with terrorism. He has held various assignments during his service span.
He has had a successful stint in an active Army Air Defence unit and also in a Training Regiment at the Army Air Defence Centre. He has been an instructor at the Army Air Defence Centre where he contributed in nurturing future capable air defence soldiers and at the Army War College where he conducted the Information Warfare courses for Indian Army officers.
He is presently pursuing PhD in Defence and Strategic Studies from Barkatullah University, Bhopal. He is an avid sportsman, and enjoys good reading, following better practices and good music.