Antony re-elected IDSA president

New Delhi : Defence Minister A.K. Antony was re-elected unopposed as president of India’s premier think tank, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) here Saturday.

The minister will head the executive council during 2012-14.

The annual general meeting also elected the new executive council for the two-year term. The fresh faces include former Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal (retd) S.P. Tyagi, Ambassador (retd) T.C.A. Rangachari and Lt.Gen. (retd) Y.M. Bammi.

Former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, defence analyst Gulshan Luthra, Vice Admiral P.S. Das (retd) and Prof R.P. Kaushik were re-elected unopposed for their second two-year terms.

Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai are the ex-officio members.

The executive council also includes IDSA director general Arvind Gupta, deputy director general Rumel Dahiya and Smrutti S. Pattanaik (staff representative).

IDSA was set up in 1965 on the lines of the US Rand Corporation to suggest options in diplomacy and defence. During both the 1974 and 1998 nuclear tests, IDSA gave valuable inputs which were asked for, and accepted, by the government.