“I am giving up my uniform today so that my students can wear theirs tomorrow.”
— Col CST Swamy, 31 May 2026
Founder & Commandant · Prachand Defence Academy
Col CST Swamy (Retd)
Combat engineer. Counter-insurgency specialist. Builder of institutions. Now devoted to developing the next generation of officers.
- Combat Engineer
- 32 years of service
- Counter Insurgency & Jungle Warfare
- GOC-in-C & DG Coast Guard Commendations
Where it began
Col Swamy grew up in Coimbatore and studied at St Michael's Higher Secondary School. As an NCC cadet he earned 'A' grades in the A, B and C Certificates, along with awards such as Best Cadet, Best Shooter and Best in Drill.
He went on to earn a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Siddaganga Institute of Technology, under Bangalore University.
A life in uniform
He joined the Officers Training Academy, Chennai as a Short Service Commission cadet. He was later transferred to the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun for a Permanent Commission, and passed out from there as a Lieutenant, commissioned as a Combat Engineer. He went on to serve 32 years in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army.
A specialist in counter insurgency and jungle warfare, he served in anti-insurgency roles with the Assam Rifles in Nagaland and in Jammu & Kashmir. He is a marksman with the rifle, light machine gun and pistol, and a qualified instructor in platoon weapons.
Building beyond the battlefield
His appointments took him to the Border Roads Organisation in the Kashmir Valley, the Military Engineer Services, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Directorate General of Quality Assurance, the Indian Coast Guard, 25 Naga Battalion NCC and NCC Group Coimbatore.
As Program Director (Infrastructure) of the Indian Coast Guard, Eastern Region, he led the delivery of the iconic Headquarters Coast Guard (Eastern Seaboard) building, which won the Indian Building Congress Best Building Award 2022.
Honours
He has been decorated with the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief's Commendation Medal for distinguished service at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, and the Director General Coast Guard Commendation Medal, along with the Operation Orchid and Operation Rakshak medals and other service medals.
A researcher’s mind
He has co-authored research papers in international journals, in fields ranging from machine learning to military nutrition. His paper Precision Tsunami Prognostication: A Machine Learning Expedition for Predictive Accuracy won the Best Paper award at the 18th Global Congress on Manufacturing and Management in Bangkok.
Mentoring future officers
Associated with NCC Group HQ Coimbatore, Col Swamy personally mentored candidates to 10 SSB recommendations before founding Prachand Defence Academy.
He founded the academy on a 2.5-acre campus in Coimbatore in 2026 to give aspirants honest, officer-to-aspirant mentorship. He leads the OLQ Development Programme and its Self Awareness Matrix, and under his leadership PDA developed PCAB, its AI-enabled CPSS practice battery.
Why I founded Prachand
“I am giving up my uniform today so that my students can wear theirs tomorrow.”— Col CST Swamy, 31 May 2026
Beyond the uniform
He rides horses, speaks in public, writes a travel blog and teaches Sri Sri Yoga.
A student of Padma Shri Subhash Palekar and inspired by Shri Nammalwar, he practised and taught Zero Budget Natural Farming for nearly a decade in Kashmir and Odisha, spreading awareness of chemical-free farming in Balasore, Odisha and Bathinda, Punjab.
Speak with Col Swamy
Book a one-on-one Defence Career Counselling session. Parents are welcome.