Indian Army launches 'Eklavya' online digital platform for training of officers

By Sandy Verma On Nov 29, 2024

New Delhi�नईDelhi:Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Upendra Dwivedi on Thursday launched an online learning platform called “Eklavya” for the Indian Army. The initiative is in line with the Indian Army's efforts to propel itself into the “Decade of Transformation” envisioned by the COAS and aligns with the Indian Army's theme of “Year of Technology Absorption” for 2024, a release said. The Eklavya software platform has been integrated into the Army War The college has been developed under the aegis of Headquarters Army Training Command as the sponsoring agency. This platform has been developed at zero cost through “Bhaskaracharya National Institute of Space Applications and Geoinformatics” (BISAG-N), Gandhinagar, with the support of Directorate General of Information Systems. The platform is hosted on Army Data Network. and has a scalable architecture. This enables Headquarters Army Training Command to seamlessly integrate any training establishments of the Indian Army, each of which is capable of hosting a wide range of courses. Student officers are allowed to register for multiple courses simultaneously. A total of 96 courses have already been hosted on the platform by 17 Category 'A' training establishments of the Indian Army.

There are three categories of courses hosted on the Eklavya platform. The first category is 'Pre-Course Preparatory Capsule', which contains study material for all offline physical courses being conducted in various Category 'A' training establishments. The aim is to shift the “fundamentals” to online courses so that physical courses have more contemporary content along with a focus on the “application part”. This will help decongest existing courses, the release said. and get time to integrate emerging concepts according to the changing character of war. It says, “An important aspect is that the trainees can register for any course at any time during their service. That is, online courses For Registration is separated from enrollment in physical courses.” The second category of courses are “appointment or specific assignment-related courses.”

Officers deployed on some specialist appointments have to learn the craft by undergoing on-the-job training (OJT) and hence, it takes them a certain amount of time to work with full proficiency in those appointments. Some of such appointments are in the areas of information warfare, defense land management, financial planning, discipline and vigilance, work, provost, veteran affairs etc. “Therefore, it will be beneficial for these officers to undertake online capsule courses in the respective domains once they get their posting orders. This category of courses will also enable the officers to acquire domain expertise in the field of their choice,” the release said , which will further assist them in their employment planning.” The third category of courses is the “Professional Development Suite” which includes courses on strategy, operational arts, leadership, organizational behavior, finance, reading skills, power writing, emerging technologies, and related issues. Eklavya also has a searchable “Knowledge Highway” functionality, in which various journals, research papers and articles are uploaded under a single window. The release said this platform will go a long way in encouraging continuous professional military education in officers, curating and enriching the existing physical curriculum, preparing officers for specialist appointments and encouraging domain expertise. (ANI)