Alok Deb

Senior Visiting Fellow

BIO

Major General Alok Deb is an Indian Army veteran with close to four decades of service and tenures in diverse operational areas. He holds an MA in Defence Studies from DSSC Wellington and has two M Phil degrees in Defence and Strategic Studies, after qualifying on the Higher Command and National Defence College courses. He has wide expertise in handling operations, logistics and managing human resources. He has been an instructor at the Indian Military Academy, Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade and Colonel (Plans) of a Strike Corps. He has had two tenures in Army Headquarters and was the Force Military Personnel Officer on the staff at UNIFIL Lebanon in 2005-6. As Commanding Officer of an artillery regiment in the Kargil War, he was decorated for gallantry and his unit awarded the COAS Unit Citation and Honour Title Kargil.
Gen Deb has commanded an Artillery Brigade in Ladakh and an Artillery Division on the Western borders. In his last assignment in the military, he oversaw the employment of artillery in India’s Eastern theatre which included the entire North East of the country. He was elected as one of the Colonel Commandants ( Senior Mentors) of the Indian Artillery in 2013, based on personal and professional standing, and retired from the service in December 2014.
Post retirement in November 2016, he assumed the appointment of Deputy Director General of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses ( now Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses), New Delhi, India’s most prestigious think tank, a position he held till 30 September 2019. In this capacity he has contributed towards producing analyses and strategies for handling security challenges both traditional and non-traditional in the near, medium and long term, in South Asia and the wider Indo Pacific region, including aspects of security structures governance for developing nations. He has been actively involved in planning and conduct of training programs for Indian civilian and para military personnel on issues pertaining to conflict and its resolution, as also enhancing their awareness on strategic security issues in the region.
Gen Deb has lectured at various civil and military institutions in India. He writes for various journals and magazines on security matters. He is currently based at Pune.