Visakhapatnam: Course officers from the 72nd Staff Course of the Defence Service Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, are on a visit to Visakhapatnam on the annual Industrial and Demonstration Tour from January 5 to 14 in two groups. The Defence Service Staff College is an inter-service institution of the Ministry of Defence and one of the oldest military institutions in India. It was founded in the year 1905 as the Army Staff College in Deolali (near Mumbai) and then relocated to Quetta (now Pakistan). Post partition, the institute was relocated to its present location Wellington Cantonment in the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu).
By 1950, it was progressively transformed into a fully integrated Defence Services Staff College. The DSSC is one of the few institutions of its type in the world where training is imparted to aspiring staff officers of all the three services Army, Navy and Air Force, and also selected officers of the Para Military and Civil Services in addition to officers from friendly foreign countries.
The Industrial and Demonstration Tour is a very important facet of the college curriculum. The tour is conducted to provide a deeper insight into the industrial and technological progress, both in the public and private sectors of the country. Additionally, visit to defence establishments and training institutes are concomitantly arranged. This year the first group comprising 260 course officers and directing staff led by Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, chief instructor of Navy and Major General M.S. Kohli, chief instructor (Army) is presently in the city.
The second group comprising 255 course officers and staff led by Air Vice-Marshal A. Golani, chief instructor (Air Force) will be arriving on January 12. During their stay, they will visit various naval establishments and also spend a day at sea to provide exposure of various facets of naval organisation to officers of Army, Air Force and Para-Military service. Meanwhile, controller, Warship Production & Acquisition (CWP&A) Chief of Material, Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), Vice-Admiral D.M. Deshpande arrived at Visakhapatnam on a two-day visit to the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) on Friday. The CWP&A called on ENC commander-in-chief Vice-Admiral H.C.S. Bisht. Vice-Admiral Desh-pande also visited other naval establishments and Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam, and held discussions. Heis scheduled to leave Visakhapatnam on Jan. 7.
