Army chief General Bipin Rawat meets students at Dehradun’s Cambrian Hall school, where he studied for three years in the 1960s. He was at the school to attend the school’s founder’s day function. (TOI photo by Amit Sharma)

, in Dehradun for a function at his alma mater, spoke to

Yeshika Budhwar

about a host of issues, including China and Pak, and the gender shift in defence ministry

Your statement about India being prepared for a two-front war came days after the prolonged Doklam standoff with China ended, presumably after sustained back-channel diplomacy. What can we understand from your comments, twice in recent months, on India's battle-readiness?

Pakistan army chief General

recently called for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute through political and diplomatic means. It was a stance divergent from the Pakistan army's approach so far.Your opinion?

has been appointed India's first full-time woman defence minister. Will there be any change in the working of the ministry?

Do you think Uttarakhand's border with Nepal is vulnerable? Are there any plans to increase Army presence in the state?

We have heard that women are going to be inducted in the Army's e combat arms as jawans, e starting with the Corps of Military Police. When can we expect that to happen?

Apart from attending the founder's day function of your alma mater, was there any other purpose for the Dehradun visit?

How does it feel to be back in your school after so many years?

The statement was mad quite some time back, bu everyone is aware of m stand, and I maintain tha nothing changes overnight We always have to take nec essary measures to protec our borders.Dialogue is conducted by diplomats and politicians... We have no say in that since the eventual decision lies with the government, and it is their call if they want the issue to be resolved through talks.We are very happy that we have a full-time raksha mantri (before Sitharaman's appointment, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley held additional charge of the defence ministry), which is an absolute necessity for the armed forces. The gender of the defence minister actually doesn't matter, and there has been no change in the working of the ministry. I feel the same way about the ministry of defence as I did earlier; the change of ministers hasn't changed that.The Uttarakhand border is no more or less vulnerable than any of our other borders, and we have sufficient forces in place to ensure there are no intrusions.We're in the process of raising a mountain regiment in the state and work for that is under way.We have already got the approval to induct 800 women as jawans in yearly batches of 52, but it is not a simple process since we cannot just recruit anyone. We need women who are prepared to be part of the Army as jawans and are fit in an overall sense to join the forces. As soon as we shortlist such recruits, we will start the induction process.I wanted to visit the Army formation in Clement Town, and interact with officers concerning a few issues. It was essentially to exchange ideas. I did visit the area of my Gorkha Rifles regiment, which was raised in this very place.I am overwhelmed to be back here as it holds so many memories. To quite an extent, the school is responsible for what I am today... All the students here were made to study hard and play equally hard. It is wonderful to meet old friends and school staff after such a long time.