Lt. Gen JS Cheema (Retd)
Lieutenant General Jagbir Singh Cheema, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, PhD, superannuated from the Indian Army as the Deputy Chief of the Army Staff in November 2017 with vast operational and administrative experience along the entire spectrum of conflict in diverse regions of the country.
Commissioned in June 1979 into 10 SIKH, the General Officer tenanted multiple tenures in J&K, ranging from commanding a Rifle Company on Siachen and an Assam Rifles Wing during the inception of insurgency in the 1990s to the Chief of Staff of Chinar Corps, gaining firsthand experience of the politico-security dynamics of the troubled state. Other assignments include commanding a battalion and brigade along the Line of Control, serving as Colonel General Staff of a Division in Ladakh, and Brigadier General Staff of a Corps in Jammu. He commanded a Division in Central India and a Corps in Punjab. He held the appointments of Chief of Staff of Eastern Command and Director General of Infantry. As a Colonel, he taught tactics and administration to mid-level officers in the Senior Command Wing of the Army War College, Mhow. An alumnus of DSSC, CDM & NDC, he was conferred with the PVSM, AVSM, VSM, and three Army Commander’s Commendation Cards.
The General Officer undertook historical research into India’s wars and low-intensity conflicts, publishing numerous research papers/ articles/ books/ coffee table books, delivering lectures, and participating in various seminars/ panel discussions. Significant research works and publications include the book “Proxy War in 15 Corps – Turbulence to Stabilization “, an analysis of the ongoing proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir; Coffee Table Book Shauryanjali on the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War; reaearch papers India-Pakistan War 1971: Examining the Evolution of India’s Decision-Making for the War by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies and India’s Politico-Military Strategy for the 1971 India-Pakistan War by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis Journal of Defence Studies (MPIDSA), and newspaper articles Why Dacca was Not a Military Objective in 1971 War and The Enduring Lesson of Strategic Restraint in Kargil.
Post-superannuation, he earned his Doctorate from Panjab University in Defence and National Security Studies, on the subject “Deterrence and Decision-Making for War in the Indian Context: an analytical study.”
The General Officer was appointed the founder Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala, and served for five years from August 8, 2019, to August 7, 2024. As Vice-Chancellor, he laid a sound foundation for the university, achieving fifth position among India’s sports universities within five years, the only one in North India. He created a blueprint to transform the Sports University from a domain-specific institution into a multidisciplinary one, in line with the National Education Policy 2020.
The General Officer is appointed as an Emeritus Resource Faculty member and Supervisor for PhD students of Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), Ahmedabad, and Professor of Practice at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He has served on various academic bodies of the Government and Universities, including as a Member of the Punjab State Higher Educational Council and a Chancellor’s nominee for the Selection of Dean in Academic Affairs at Pune University.