Maj. Gen. Kuldip Singh Sindhu, VSM (Retd), Indian Army

Maj Gen Kuldip Sindhu was born in Hissar in a military family on 02 Feb 1948. His father, an Infantry officer from the JAT Regiment served on the Burma front, and later oversaw surrender of a Japanese battalion at Chiang Mai Camp, Singapore.

At the age of 19 ½ years, General Kuldip was awarded the President’s Permanent Regular Commission into The Poona Horse – a cavalry regiment of considerable military reputation, having won a PVC each in the Indo Pak wars of 1965 & 1971. He has held numerous command and staff appointments during his 39 year-long illustrious military career, and has served in most parts of the country. Notable among these were command of 15 Armoured Regiment, three staff tenures at Army Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence, New Delhi, command of 80 Infantry Brigade on the Line of Control (dealing with cross border infiltration and anti-militancy operations), and three plus years as Defence Attaché, Embassy of India, Riyadh - with concurrent accreditation to Kuwait and Yemen. While there he witnessed, at first hand, the Gulf War 1991, Iraqi Scud strikes, and toured the battlefront, reporting on tactics & strategy of the Coalition forces, and reasons for Iraqi failure. The General is widely regarded as an expert on Middle East affairs, and has considerable knowledge of Islam and Islamic practices.

His higher command appointments have been Instructor at the Army War College, MHOW, Commandant of a top secret defence unit dealing with acquisition of military intelligence through satellites, for which he was awarded a Vishist Seva Medal by the President. On promotion to the rank of Maj Gen in 2001, he was given command of 36 RAPID Infantry Division, during which he was actively involved in OP PARAKRAM – serving a continuous year in extremely harsh desert conditions while on the brink of war.

Later, because of outstanding administrative capabilities, vision, and “out of box” thinking, he was personally selected by Chief of Army Staff to be the first Managing Director ECHS and set up its infrastructure in a record time. ECHS is a health scheme for defence pensioners/widows, possibly second largest in the world. His last appointment before retirement was with Ministry of Defence, as Director General Resettlement, responsible for training & rehabilitating into civil life, approx 25 lakh ex-soldiers & 4 lakh widows (including war widows). His tenure as DGR was very successful as he started path breaking schemes to absorb retiring officers & men into civil life & jobs.

Maj Gen Kuldip Sindhu actively participated in the 1971 war on the Eastern front and witnessed the surrender of Pak forces at Bogra (Bangladesh). In addition, he was involved in one manner or the other in all three subsequent stand offs with Pakistan, i.e., OP TRIDENT 1986, OP VIJAY (Kargil) 1999, and OP PARAKRAM 2001. He is also a recipient of the Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card for meritorious service.

Post his retirement, the General started a second career with IBM Daksh, where worked for four years with IBM, rising to level of Vice President RESO India-South Asia region, dealing with India, Sri Lanka & the Philippines. A sharpshooter, he is also an avid sportsman – having played practically all games in his youth. Current passions are Golf (he holds a +10 handicap), and Bridge. Other hobbies are photography and study of ancient/medieval architecture. Widely travelled, he has visited 26 countries officially, and for tourism.