India's Special Forces- History and Future of Special Forces

by P.C. Katoch, Saikat Datta

Employment till now of our nascent Special Forces have been analyzed including whether our Special Forces have actually been employed or used as Special Forces or primarily used in counter insurgency operations for which we have any number of other units available. The book brings out whether a rare resource like Special Forces should or should not be employed for such missions that can be performed by a host of other groups. In the backdrop of 21st Century threats, what should be the Special Forces structure in India, their concept of employment and doctrine? These are the other questions this book has attempted to answer.

Genres: India, Nonfiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Archit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read with a detailed history.

Seeing the forces closely, I believe it's a must read for any aspirant, serving or a retired person. Would like to keep it in my shelf.

[Mohammed Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well the book is awesome just go for it if you don't know much about special forces and army
I have decided to join the military by just reading this book

[Rajat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic carries immense scope, albeit the book covers fewer aspects of the Para(SF). From the inception to the present, the co-authors try to run down events that served as a prelude to the raising of the Special Forces in India, to the major operations conducted over the years and lessons learnt from them. The book ambitiously tries to encapsulate every major operational and structural requirement plaguing the Special Forces, such as the issue of a separate SF Regiment, no theatre specific command and control, and employment of SFs for conventional warfare. However, the authors do not cover the details in depth, which I do not feel emanates from the fact that SF activities are usually covert. I do appreciate the fact that the tone of the book is more introspective, as it doesn't lay major blame on the political establishment or administration, and spells out why army has impaired the ability of its own SF over the years, and what it must do to rectify the problems. In terms of foreign policy, you will find anecdotes that spell out future strategies likely to be assumed by specific countries, and 5 years since the publication of this book, actually hold out as great prophecies ( Dolam incident with China being one such event)

I felt the need to knock off a few stars on the rating since the 176 pages seem to have been written in a way that would even make a college student writing his entire master's thesis one night before submission look good. Very repetitive and riddled with errors.

[M Sanathoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed description into every stage of SF. Feels overwhelming of factual data in first section, but gives pros-cons of the organization in great depth.....

[Onkar Thakur · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is that it is perhaps the only book(at least, I'm not aware of any other) which covers the Special Forces of India. This book primarily covers the inception and history of the Para SF although this book too fails to cover the details about the lesser known operations of PARA SF.

The part which discusses the future role of Special Forces in Hybrid conflicts and suggestions to make Indian Special Forces capable for future conflicts is detailed and contains some of the best insights I have read on these topics.

Now coming to the downside, this book spectacularly fails to cover the history or for that matter anything about the other special forces apart from PARA SF. There is a small chapter on the NSG but it is too brief to satiate the curiosity of Special forces junkies. There is almost nothing in this book about the Navy's MARCOS or the Air Force's Garuds or the SFF. Another peeve I have about this book is the poor proofreading. There are numerous typos and also certain parts are repeated.

Having said that, I don't wish to dissuade anyone from reading this book. Notwithstanding its many faults, this book does contain some interesting bits about the history of Special Forces in India and some excellent suggestions about the future evolution of Special Forces in India.

[Kenneth Mascarenhas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Informative

Not an easy book for a civilian like me to read... But if you are intrigued enough about the special forces of the Indian Military and need the info from credable sources, this is the book for you. Very detailed in all aspects.i.e. History & present. And finally his analysis of our current state and future requirements is very logical and pragmatic..

[Rohan Vij · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about the Special Forces of India