Retired from IFS in 2004, he had been Ambassador of India to Morocco, and to Cuba; High Commissioner of India to Guyana; (First) Consul General at St. Petersburg (Russia); Served in Indian Missions in Saudi Arabia– as Minister / DCM; in Mauritius– as Deputy High Commissioner; and in Hong Kong, China and Japan. He has served in the Department of Atomic Energy as Director for External Relations and in the Ministry of Defence as Joint Secretary for foreign collaboration in defence production. Before joining IFS, he was a commissioned officer in the Indian Army (Regiment of Artillery) and is a proud '1971 War Veteran'.
Currently, he is: (Past President and) Member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Indian Diplomats, an association of Former Ambassadors of India Managing Editor of the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal - the quarterly of the A.I.D. Member of the Committee of the CCUSLAS, SIS, JNU. Member of various Think-Tanks on strategic affairs, like, IDSA, USI, VIF, IPS etc.
Air Marshal Satish Gobind Inamdar VSM, PVSM former Vice Chief of Air Staff, was commissioned in the IAF as a fighter Pilot in Mar 63. He has flown over 3700 hours on a variety of fighter aircraft and took active part in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak conflicts. He has commanded a Fighter Squadron, a Fighter Wing and the prestigious Aircrew Examination Board. An MSc (Defence Studies) and an AMAeSI, he is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, the Pilot Attach Instructor School, Higher Air Command Course, Senior Defence Management Course (CDM) and the National Defence College. He has held various Air Staff Appointments at Air HQ and Operational Commands HQs. He was the Chief Instructor at Defence Services Staff College and Senior Air Staff Officer at: HQ CAC (1998-1999) before taking over his present appointment as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.
He was chairman of the Pay Commission Cell, representing the Chiefs of Staff Committee on the fifth Central Pay Commission. As the chairman of the V CPC, he was responsible for formulating the norms, channelising and guiding the members for the first ever combined formulation of the three service proposals. It goes to his credit that an Armed Forces Joint Memorandum well researched and authentic document complete with full justification running into 600 pages was submitted to the V CPC in record time in Apr 95. His vast experience and competence on the operational front became evident when he was SASO of an operational Command. During the Kargil crisis his meticulous planning and guidance in respect of the use of the right weapon system, especially Mirage aircraft and modified weapons, turned the tide of the battle and resulted in a comprehensive and convincing victory for the Indian Armed Forces. Air Marshal Satish Gobind Inamdar VSM has thus rendered distinguished Service of the most exceptional order.
Probal Ghosh is a former SEAS Fellow and has had the rare privilege of being the lead Co-Chair and India Representative to two consecutive CSCAP International Study Groups during which two Memorandums were prepared and forwarded to the ARF. He has served in many strategic think tanks and was a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and at the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS). He is the Founder and Life Member of the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and was its first Senior Research Fellow from inception till Dec 2008. He held the prestigious Prof. DS Kothari DRDO Chair at the USI (United Services Institution) for research in Ballistic Missile Defence system (BMDS). He has also been a Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) for two tenures wherein he had worked on nuclear issues, the strategic triad and the BMDS.
He was the coordinator and convenor of the major pan Indian Ocean maritime initiative by India- IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) that he helped in conceptualizing from scratch. A Guest Professor at the Stockholm University (CPAS), he is a sought after Guest Speaker and travels globally for participating in seminars and for giving lectures He writes extensively and has published books, monographs and articles on issues connected with Maritime security, Indo Pacific strategy/ power dynamics, Nuclear issues, triad, BMDS, missile proliferation ,civilian space programme, South China seas, and asymmetric threats.
Amitabh Mattoo is currently Dean of School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Professor of Disarmament studies at the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies. His teaching and research interests include issues of international security, India’s foreign policy, and arms control and disarmament. Mattoo has been visiting Professor at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace Studies , the University of Notre Dame, and at the Program on Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the Maison des Sciences de'Lomme at Paris. He has published ten books (on nuclear issues, foreign policy and international relations), and more than fifty research articles (including in leading journals like Survival and Asian Survey). He writes regularly for Indian newspapers, including The Telegraph and The Hindu and is a commentator on television.
Dr Roshan Khanijo is the Assistant Director (Research) at the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3), USI, New Delhi. Her academic qualification includes BSc, MA and Ph.D. She is a strategic analyst. Her areas of focus include Security, Nuclear Issues, Indo-Pacific Region, the nuclear and conventional weapons programme of Nuclear Weapon States, Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control, Niche Technologies-BMD, HGV etc. She has also done ‘Net Assessment studies’ where she assisted in undertaking ‘Net Assessment’ of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China etc.
She has authored, edited books, Monographs and Occasional papers. Some of them are Complexities and Challenges of Nuclear India, Indo-Pacific Region Security Dynamics and Challenges, Nuclear Security Summit –The Challenge Continues, China’s Military Modernisation, Hypersonic Glide Vehicles: Implications for India; etc. She has been a panellist in a number of national and international workshops/Seminars. She has presented papers in CIISS (China Institute for International Strategic Studies), Beijing, CICIR (China Institute of Contemporary International Relations) Beijing, Research Institute for National Security Affairs (RINSA), South Korea etc. She did a project on ‘Indo-Pacific Region’ with Sichuan University, Chengdu. She was the panellist in the International Nuclear Seminar organised by IDSA, the IISS (UK)-ORF joint seminar on Strategic stability in the Indo-Pacific region etc. She has also given guest lectures in Southern Naval Command, Kochi, ARTRAC, at Shimla, Air War College, Hyderabad, etc.
Dinesh Kumar Yadvendra is a former Scientific Advisor to the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff HQ IDS Ministry of Defence New Delhi . As an advisor he has been involved with Policy, Planning & Force Development issues including the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan . He has been actively associated with strategic studies and analysis including space security issues and has been a Visiting Scholar at the Space Policy Institute , Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University , Washington DC. He has been closely involved for over a decade in India’s first Nuclear Submarine Program - Arihant. Besides various talks at seminars and conferences organised by leading institutions in the country he has delivered several invited talks related to Security Dynamics and Technology at various prestigious institutions and think tanks in the US and Europe . He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS) New Delhi , a think tank initiated by the Ministry of Defence with a mission to promote growth of Integrated National Power and all dimensions of its application.