Command of an Engineer Group and Centre is a unique privilege. No other appointment, tenable by a Brigadier, matches its sphere of authority and responsibilities. An Engineer Centre conducts recruits’ training, promotion courses and trade-upgradation courses for the whole group.
A lesser known function of the Centre is to act as the conscience-keeper of the Group and a guardian of regimental traditions. The Centre is considered as the cradle that promotes camaraderie and fosters esprit-de-corps. It is also the repository of the group history including the battle honours.
My tenure as Commandant of the Bombay Sappers was highly satisfying. We raised the standard of military training to exceptional heights. Visiting military dignitaries were astonished to see our methodology and advised others to adopt the same. Besides, a large number of infrastructural facilities were created or upgraded for the troops.
The entire credit for what we managed to achieve goes to the remarkable team that I had the privilege to command. This book recounts momentous events and activities of my tenure at the helm of affairs in the Centre.
Of Matters Military: Donning the Cap
Major General Mrinal Suman, AVSM, VSM, PhD commanded an Engineer Regiment in the most hostile battlefield in the world, i.e. the Siachen Glacier. He was the Task Force Commander at Pokharan and was responsible for designing and sinking shafts for the nuclear tests. For that, he was duly decorated by the President of India.
He is considered to be India’s foremost expert on myriad aspects of India’s defence procurement regime and offsets. He is regularly invited to address various Indian chambers, associations and foreign industrial delegations. He is a prolific writer and has published more than 550 papers in different journals and newspapers; many have been translated into foreign languages.
This is General Suman’s eighth book. His earlier books deal with issues confronting the Indian armed forces; reasons for the tardy procurement process; controversies afflicting recent defence contracts; reasons for growing anti-nationalism in India; his years in the olive green; and digging of shafts for the nuclear tests. In his last book, General Suman carried out an analytical review of the defence industry in India.
