Lt. Col Ashish Agarwal
Lt. Col Ashish Agarwal is an Indian Army veteran from the elite Armoured Corps. He has diverse, cross functional experience imbibed over twenty-six years. Apart from being a Chinese Language Instructor for the Indian Army, he is also a qualified Military Communication Instructor. After rendering 11 years of commissioned service, he entered Indian Army’s academic stream and continued to be posted in academic and academic administration related appointments. During his active military service, he, inter alia, held the appointments of Adjutant, Accounts Officer, Education Officer, Translator and Staff Officer (Area & Language Specialist).
In his fourth year of service, Lt Col Ashish Agarwal joined the Cabinet Secretariat, on deputation, where he handled several diplomatic assignments and was nominated to deliver lectures to officers of friendly foreign countries.
A qualified linguist with Masters in Chinese Language and M Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies, he had worked relentlessly for maintaining peace and tranquillity along the International Border in Sikkim. The ability to communicate effectively and create poetic renderings in Hindi, English and Chinese, earned him the nick name “Ya Shi” (also a transliteration of the name Ashish) or the “Poet of Asia” amongst his Chinese counterparts.
While serving as Education Officer in a formation headquarter, he was responsible for conduct of courses, both military and academic, for Indian Army troops. He established a Centre for Chinese Language in a high-altitude area (13200 ft) and developed the curriculum for One-year Chinese Language Course. He organised more than 20 bilateral meetings and served as interpreter to the Governor of Sikkim Shri Shriniwas Patil and Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh during their visits to Nathula Pass. He also facilitated the inaugural ‘Kailash Mansarovar Yatra’ through Nathula Pass in 2015.
Lt Col Ashish Agarwal was posted to the Training Command of the Indian Army as an Area Specialist for carrying out research in China Studies and coordinating Chinese Language training for the Indian Army. He coordinated training and provided support to over 30 training establishments like Indian Military Academy, National Defence Academy, Officer’s Training Academy etc. He prepared an exclusive 200-page training document, authored articles and prepared draft of the language training policy.
Lt Col Ashish Agarwal served on deputation for three years with a research department under the Prime Minister’s office as a Research Analys. He also represented the organisation in various meetings of Joint Working Groups held under the aegis of Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. He also represented the organisation in meetings held under Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
The Officer took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army in 2021 to serve the higher education sector full time and joined Visva-Bharati University as Registrar. After a brief stint as Registrar, he joined the prestigious National Institute of fashion Technology (NIFT) Bhopal, an Institution under the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, as Director.
At NIFT, he supervised and reviewed Academic, Administrative, Financial, Project related activities of the Institute Campus. During his tenure four new departments offering undergraduate courses, were introduced at NIFT Bhopal, taking the total number of courses from three in 2021 to seven in 2023.
Lt Col Ashish Agarwal assumed duties as the first regular Registrar of Netaji Subhas University of Technology on 21.07.2025