|
FORCE, an 80-page monthly print magazine (with an Internet edition that can be viewed at
www.forceindia.net), started its journey in August 2003 with the resolve that it will focus on the entire gamut of national security and defence — from external threats to internal challenges. It will not be an opinionated journal, but a magazine that would keep its ears to the ground.
In nearly a decade since its first issue, FORCE journalists have travelled across India, met soldiers and officials in different theatres to bring authenticity and credibility to each of its articles. Not only have the services, government and industry leaders spoken with FORCE, globally renowned experts have written in FORCE. These include General Jehangir Karamat (Former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff), Late J.N. Dixit (Former Indian National Security Advisor), Maj. Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani (Former Pakistan National Security Advisor), Kanwal Sibal (Former Indian Foreign Secretary), Admiral Arun Prakash (Former Indian Chief of Navy Staff and a leading strategist), Bruce Riedel (advisor to four American Presidents), Late K. Subramanyam (leading Indian strategist) and Ashley J. Tellis (senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).
In December 2011, FORCE, which has the distinction of being India’s first monthly newsmagazine on national security and defence, brought out its 100th issue. With exclusive essays by Admiral Arun Prakash, Ashley Tellis, Bruce Riedel, Kanwal Sibal and G.K. Pillai among others, the special issue encapsulated the learning FORCE has steadily been imbibing since its first issue in 2003.
Being an objective observer of changing defence and security concerns and priorities of India since 2003, FORCE has been focussing on all the developments that have taken place in the last eight years in the nine areas which form FORCE’s core:
>> Indian Army
>> Indian Air Force
>> India Navy
>> Paramilitary Forces
>> Defence Industry
>> Strategic Issues
>> Jammu and Kashmir
>> Homeland Security; and
>> Left-Wing Extremism.
FORCE is not a mere newsmagazine; it is a resource-base with a long-term shelf-life. Our readers constantly reference FORCE for research work, promotional examinations and formulations of SQRs. This is the reason all monthly issues of FORCE are bound together in an attractive leather ensemble as an annual volume at the end of each year and is made available for sale. Hence, an advertisement in FORCE has a shelf-life of years and not merely a month. Every time someone refers to an old edition of FORCE, he will see the advertisement.
FORCE is the first magazine in India to integrate all aspects of defence and security into one collective whole. Today, as external defence demands greater synergy between air, land and sea (the military forces), the homeland security requires better cooperation between the military and the paramilitary. Hence, the government of India is increasingly integrating and collectivising procurements, for better operational and financial efficiency. FORCE is one medium that ‘speaks to’ and ‘speaks of’ both these prongs.
Since its launch, FORCE has managed to grab the right eyeballs within the government of India, and the top leadership of the services. Today, FORCE has the largest subscription base from within the three defence services in India. FORCE is also read keenly in the industry, by the policy-makers, the strategic community and the general readers.
|
|