Gen VK Singh opts for books after toying with guns

His spats with the government have kept him in the limelight, but away from the media glare, General VK Singh is silently pursuing his dreams of becoming a scholar and teacher once he retires as army chief on May 31.

Gen Singh aspires to teach in defence colleges and other institutes apart from completing his Ph.D on ‘Security implications of the rise of fundamentalism in Afghanistan: Its regional and global impact with special focus on Wakhan’, his family sources told DNA. He has two years to submit his research for his doctorate.

Gen Singh is pursuing his doctorate from the Barkatullah (state) University in Bhopal. He enrolled with the institute in 2009 in the department of defence and strategic studies under professor Kailash Tyagi. “He has always been interested in academics. Though one may see it as an indication that he may not want to take up post-retirement assignments like being a governor, etc, at this time, he only wants to teach and not do anything else,” said one of his family members.

Though it gets strenuous for him to manage his job as army chief and pursue his doctorate, Gen Singh is leaving no stone unturned to pursue his ambitions. “He reads often. Since his day starts at 5.30am, he gets enough time to study. He puts in extra effort after his office hours and also devotes 30-40 minutes in the night for his research work,” the source said.  Controversies don’t bother him either. “We have never seen him disturbed or seen him lose focus from studies,” the source said.

The army chief’s Ph.D guide Dr Tyagi says Gen Singh is a sincere and focused student despite his high-profile status. “He does not have airs about himself. We share a normal teacher-student relationship,” he said.