New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) Taking a jibe at Islamabad, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Saturday said victory is not declared by mere rhetoric, but demonstrated through evidence, like India did during Operation Sindoor.
Speaking at the ‘JAI Se Vijay’ Seminar 2026 organised by the Southern Command in Pune, the CDS said, “With respect to the defence forces, a sense of victory cannot be built on demolished terror infrastructure, damaged runways, crippled airfields, and dysfunctional air defence systems. Such kind of victories or slogans do not endure. Actual Vijay lies in demonstrated evidence and verifiable outcomes.”
Stating that the term ‘Jai’, also represents freedom from colonial mindset, which should encourage original thinking and revive Indian thought process, the CDS said India’s defence posture for the next decade is required to be shaped by a sober assessment of what lies ahead; what kind of challenges lie ahead.
“Today, the world is passing through the most dramatic moment in global geopolitics. It’s a moment of great uncertainty and flux. First is the rise of coercive nationalism and economic weaponization. Trade, supply chains, technology access, data, and critical resources are increasingly being used as tools of strategic leverage by nations,” said the CDS.
“Second, there’s a clear departure and retreat from utopian ideas, which we used to hear earlier, of convergence or seamless globalisation. Migration pressures, demographic imbalance, social polarisation, unemployment, and inequality are placing society, especially liberal democracies, under tremendous strain.
“Third, this is an era defined by accelerated technological advancement or technological change or technological disruption,” he said.
Stating that technology has become a decisive determinant of power, Gen Chauhan said that advances in quantum computing, artificial intelligence, data analytics, machine learning and long-range precision are actually shaping not only deterrence, but also escalation and warfare itself.
He also spoke about visible erosion of established norms and expectations of good state behaviour. “Concepts which we thought are far settled, actually, the concept of sovereignty, concept of territorial integrity, are increasingly being questioned today. As a result, the geographical boundaries that define nation-states, which we thought were immutable, are increasingly being questioned,” he added.
Painting a stark picture of a rapidly transforming global security environment, the CDS warned that the traditional rule-based order is eroding as “might is increasingly becomes right” and the threshold for the use of force is diminishing.
He observed that advances in precision weaponry and long-range targeting have reduced collateral damage, lowering the moral and political hesitation that once restrained nation-states from employing force.
Declared wars, he noted, are giving way to proxy conflicts and grey zone operations, where competition unfolds through sub-threshold actions, cyber offensives and sustained strategic pressure.
The CDS highlighted that cognitive and information warfare has emerged as a decisive battleground. Influence campaigns, disinformation and narrative manipulation are targeting societies directly to fracture cohesion and paralyse decision-making without provoking overt military retaliation.
He further highlighted the rise of non-traditional security threats, including pandemics, bio-risks, critical infrastructure disruptions and climate-related stresses that now carry strategic consequences.
In a world of fluid and transactional alignments, where fixed notions of allies and adversaries are increasingly unreliable, Gen Chauhan stressed that India must remain mentally, structurally and materially prepared to act independently.
While partnerships remain important, he asserted, they cannot replace national capability or India’s sovereign freedom of choice, the CDS said.
