New Delhi [India], November 30 (ANI): The Indian Army’s Internship Programme, a first-of-its-kind initiative, offers young people a chance to work alongside the Army in cutting-edge fields such as technology, cyber skills, AI, and drones.
Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Rakesh Kapoor, in an interaction with ANI, said, “The Army Internship Programme is an endeavour to get the youth of the country to get an opportunity to work with their Army in a mutually beneficial mode in various fields like technology (Cyber, AI, Drones etc), mass communication and accounting. Interning with the Army is a cherished entry in anyone’s CV.”
The top Army official added that the programme’s pilot phase attracted strong interest from students. “Our experience in the pilot paid programme conducted this year has been very encouraging. It will be an annual feature hereon,” he said.
This annual programme is designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world application, providing hands-on experience in domains critical to national development and defence modernisation.
This is part of the Army’s expanded civil-military fusion efforts, in which it works in close collaboration with academic institutions, start-ups, and national technology bodies. The idea is to strengthen India’s security through shared innovation and resource optimisation.
On the civil-military fusion aspect, in order to channelise national resources more effectively, he said, “The idea of civil-military fusion stems from the need to optimise the national resources and have a whole of nation approach for national security.”
The Lt Gen, in reply to the query, also added that the Army has already set up major centres that link military requirements with India’s top technology institutions.
Elaborating on these initiatives with the example of the Army AI Research and Incubation Centre (AARIC), he said, “The AI Research & Incubation Centre, inaugurated by the COAS in December 2024, aims at bringing AI to the centre-stage of technology infusion in the Army. This is being done in collaboration with industry, including start-ups and academia. In fact, the mentorship is being done by Prof Ganesh of IIT Bombay and Prof Sashi of IISc Bengaluru. We expect rich dividends from this pioneering effort.”
Lt Gen Kapoor said these projects are part of a broader push to embed the military’s expertise into India’s major technology roadmaps.
“Participation in National Tech Missions. The presence of military personnel on national technology missions is imperative in today’s world, where technology has become the de facto prime mover of warfare. To foster a consciousness of national security across domains and to leverage the seminal work in technology missions for the capability enhancement of India’s Armed Forces, we have teamed up with the respective ministries for having a military member on such important missions like Drones, AI, 6G and Quantum,” he said. (ANI)