National Security and Intelligence Reforms

[W.G.Ewald]

Finally, rather unbelievably, India is still without a National War Memorial.

Is there a cemetery for Indian veterans similar to Arlington Cemetery in the US?

The Official Website of Arlington National Cemetery

 

[Iamanidiot]

Is there a cemetery for Indian veterans similar to Arlington Cemetery in the US?

The Official Website of Arlington National Cemetery

Indians cremate their dead rather than burying

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Indians cremate their dead rather than burying

Sir, I understand that, but crematory remains are also interred in Arlington.

 

[Iamanidiot]

Sir, I understand that, but crematory remains are also interred in Arlington.

The crematory remains are not interred in Hinduism and please Iam too young to be called 'sir' my you iam hardly 24

 

[nrj]

Is there a cemetery for Indian veterans similar to Arlington Cemetery in the US?

The Official Website of Arlington National Cemetery

No there is no cemetery AFIK.

India Gate, New Delhi is today considered as National War Memorial. It was built by British Army to honor its soldiers killed in WW-I.

Independent India planned its own War memorial but they are still looking for land since 1960s. Its been 50+yrs but they are yet to resolve dispute with Delhi Urban Development authority since it has objections with proposed site near India Gate.

 

[nrj]

Railways to move RPF Bill 2012 in Budget session

A legislation to make Railway Protection Force (RPF) the sole body responsible for passenger security is likely to be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament.

The Railway Protection Force (Amendment) Bill, 2011 also seeks withdrawal of Government Railway Police from railway premises and empowering the RPF with policing power to deal with crime cases, including drugging and robberies in trains and stations.

"The bill is ready and has been sent to the Cabinet for its approval for introducing the same in the Budget session," said a senior Railway Ministry official.

If the legislation is passed in Parliament, it will be for the first time that a paramilitary force will be given policing powers in the country.

The bill also aims at eliminating multiplicity of authorities as the RPF will be solely responsible for tackling crime in railway premises.

The draft of the bill is being finalised in consultation with various ministries including Law, Finance and Home.

Currently, the GRP under the state government is responsible for dealing with crime at rail stations and trains while the RPF's role is restricted to protecting railway properties.

Since the GRP is controlled by the state government, there are boundary issues. "If a theft takes place in a Delhi-bound train in Bihar, then FIR will not be registered in Delhi," the official said.

"It will be registered where the crime has taken place. It not only creates inconvenience to passengers but also affects the investigation process."

Once the law is enacted, the GRP will be withdrawn from Railway premises across the country. RPF will be responsible for registering FIRs and there will be no boundary issue involved.

However, according to the provisions of the Bill, RPF will not be responsible for law and order problems and its policing powers will be restricted to railway premises.

The official said the proposed bill has received in-principle clearance from the Home and Law ministries.

Railways to move RPF Bill 2012 in Budget session - India - DNA

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Is there a cemetery for Indian veterans similar to Arlington Cemetery in the US?

The Official Website of Arlington National Cemetery

AMAR JAWAN is the only memorial for all the fallen HEROES and it speaks for itself. A light is lit continuously forever in remembering the fallen HEROES.

 

[Bangalorean]

Here is another brilliant article by Mr.Sood. He is heavily influenced by Sun Tzu's thinking.

Intelligence Reform

This is an excellent article - among all articles, I found this the best.

It is of course unrealistic to expect any banker or finance wizard to give up his fancy job and work for a still lowly paid government assignment. The CIA faced with budget cuts in the Clinton era got over this problem by outsourcing which has now become an Intelligence-Industrial Complex rather like the Military-Industrial Complex that has typified US capitalism. It is estimated that today outsourcing is a 50 billion dollar business annually and consumes about 70 percent of the budget of the US intelligence community and this includes those working on covert operations.

The CIA, the National Security Agency and the Pentagon now have partnership arrangements with giants like Lockheed Martin, IBM, CACI and Booz Allen Hamilton. This may not be the model for India to follow but there is no way that there can be any effective functioning of intelligence agencies in the future without some involvement and reliance on the private sector. This involvement is going to be inevitable and necessary chiefly because it could be in the interest of the private sector to be participatory in the security of the country and it has the means and the resources to do so. The private sector could provide the technological inputs in battling terror.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

AMAR JAWAN is the only memorial for all the fallen HEROES and it speaks for itself. A light is lit continuously forever in remembering the fallen HEROES.

Amar Jawan {A Site of Remembrance}

 

[nrj]

National Security Adviser Releases IDSA Taskforce Report on India's Cyber Security Challenges

New Delhi: "India needs to create a climate and environment within which security is built into our cyber and communications working methods", said National Security Advisor (NSA), Mr Shiv Shankar Menon. Mr Menon was releasing the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses' (IDSA) report on India's Cyber Security Challenges at IDSA on May 16, 2012.

The NSA stated categorically that India was not in favour of curbing freedom of expression on the internet, but at the same time, in a democracy a line will need to be drawn between the collective right to security and individual's right to privacy.

The nation needs to "harden its critical networks and develop metrics to certify and assure that our critical cyber networks, equipment and infrastructure are secure", said Mr Menon, adding that "we must find ways to indigenously generate manpower, technologies and equipment that we require for our cyber security."

Terming the IDSA report as "topical", coming in at a time when the government is in the final stages of preparing a 'whole-of–government Cyber Security architecture, Mr Menon welcomed it as a "significant contribution towards increasing an understanding of the issue of cyber security and of what we should be worrying about in this field."

In his address, Mr Menon spoke about the effects of ICT on warfare, highlighting how the ICT revolution has redistributed power and brought into play the non-state actors, individuals and terrorists in particular. Citing the example of West Asia, Mr Menon pointed out that technology places increasingly lethal powers in the non state actors, who use it in popular movements to mobilise people and influence opinions against regimes.

What makes the Cyber Security issue even more complicated, insisted Mr Menon, is the fact that these technologies are not just available to the state where law and policies can control and limit their use, they are widely available in the public domain where commercial and individual motives can easily lead to misuse.

Drawing a comparison between states, the NSA said that information technologies and their effects have made asymmetric strategies much more effective and attractive. He added that the weaker states use cyber war and anti satellite capabilities to neutralise or raise the cost and deter the use of its military strength by a stronger sate.

The NSA concluded that India should be prepared to deal with both the threats to cyber space and risks arising through cyber space, as a "step towards a coherent and comprehensive cyber security policy", adding that the while NTRO is tasked to deal with the protection of our critical security cyber infrastructure, institutions like CERT-IN have proved their worth during events like Common Wealth Games in defending our open civil systems.

Also present on the occasion was former Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations and the chairman of the taskforce, Mr Nitin Desai, who pointed out that cyber space is emerging as a place of global governance and the challenge of cyber security cannot be tacked by the government alone.

He added that preserving functionality in cyber space is a mammoth challenge and there fore he emphasised on a need for Public Private Partnership.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, Director General, IDSA, Dr Arvind Gupta said, that the report, written in a non-technical style, is aimed at raising awareness about the dynamic nature of cyberspace and cyber security challenges that India is facing.

He further added, that in analyzing the various dimensions of cyber security challenge to India, the Task Force argues that India must foresee and plan for various challenges arising out of the growth of internet and digitalization of governance. Failure to do so can be catastrophic and could affect national security, Indian economy and social stability. India is particularly vulnerable to the threats from cyber crime, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage and cyber warfare. India's critical infrastructure is also vulnerable.

A panel discussion on Indian Cyber Security- Way forward was held after the NSA's speech. Chairing the session, deputy national Security Advisor, Ms. Vijay Latha Reddy said that the government is putting together an architecture involving various agencies and departments to deal with cyber security. DG, CERT-IN, Dr Gulshan Rai, said that dealing with daily attacks in cyber space requires a global approach.

Chief Information Security Officer, Airtel, Mr Felix Mohan gave an example of a successful public private partnership between CERT–IN and Airtel during the Common Wealth Games where over 8000 cyber attacks in two weeks were foiled. Lt General Aditya Singh (Retd.) and General HJS Sachdev spoke at length about the need to be prepared to deal with challenges of network centric force.

Joint Secretary (IT), Ministry of External Affairs, Mr Harsh Jain gave an account of government of India's participation at the international forum on cyber security. He said India has ongoing cyber security dialogue with Japan, South Korea and the United States.

All speakers emphasised the need for proactive planning in cyber security.

The IDSA had set up a Task Force in 2011 to explore the diverse dimensions of cyber security challenge that India is facing. The Task Force was headed by Shri Nitin Desai, former Member of the NSAB, and comprised Director General, IDSA, Dr Arvind Gupta, Lt Gen (retd.) Aditya Singh, former Member of the NSAB; Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, Dta Security Council of India; Shri B J Srinath, CERT-IN; Shri Salman Waris, a Lawyer in a Delhi based law firm; Shri Amit Sharma, DRDO; Dr. Ajey Lele, IDSA; Dr Cherian Samuel, IDSA and Shri Kapil Patil, Indian Pugwash Society.

The report argues that Government and the private sector give cyber security some priority in their security and risk management plans, and do this jointly. Being a report that is addressed to the security community in the widest sense and intended to stimulate public discussion, it relies on publicly available information.

National Security Adviser Releases IDSA Taskforce Report on India's Cyber Security Challenges | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

 

[nrj]

Task Force's Report on India's Cyber Security Challenges

Cyberspace as an independent theatre of war is about attacks that compromise the capability to use these facilities: they cannot be prevented by the security services in isolation.

The defence of cyberspace necessarily involves the forging of effective partnerships between the public organisations charged with ensuring the security of cyberspace and those who manage the use of this space by myriad users like government departments, banks, infrastructure, manufacturing and service enterprises and individual citizens.The defence of cyberspace has a special feature. The national territory or space that is being defended by the land, sea and air forces is well defined. Outer space and cyberspace are different. They are inherently international even from the perspective of national interest.

This report argues that Government and the private sector give cyber security some priority in their security and risk management plans, and do this jointly. Being a report that is addressed to the security community in the widest sense and intended to stimulate public discussion, it relies on publicly available information.

Full Report here

 

[ejazr]

Task Force report on intel reforms gathering dust - Sevensisters Post

Subir Bhaumik, Guwahati (Apr 27): A detailed report with specific recommendations for intelligence reforms in India, submitted by a Task Force led by a former Assam cadre IAS officer Rana Banerji is gathering dust for a year. The same has been the fate of a bill placed in parliament to regulate Indian intelligence agencies. The Bill brought by Congress MP and party spokesman, Manish Tiwari.

"This shows how much importance our government gives to the task of improving our intelligence," said Bhashyam Kasturi, author of a book on Indian intelligence.

"Every time we talk of intelligence failure when something like 26/11 happens. But what do we as a nation to ensure this does not happen again."

"The government's task is to set up task forces and then forget the task of implementing their recommendations," said a serving R&AW official who did not wished to be named.

He said Banerji was "a highly competent officer" and his recommendations brings an insider perspective," but quickly added that "his observations will not make the existing intelligence top brass very happy and they will resist his recommendations."

The fate of the Bill will be no different, analysts opined, and for similar reasons. 'The Intelligence Services (Powers and Regulation) Bill, 2011' was introduced in the 2011 Budget Session of Parliament by Tewari, a senior Supreme Court advocate, who led a joint study by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Institute of Defence &Strategic Analysis (IDSA) .

The IDSA Task Force on Intelligence Reforms, led by Rana Banerji, suggested radical changes in recruitment for intelligence services, in enforcing financial accountability in them, and for promoting coordination amongst various intelligence agencies.

The Banerji-led Task Force observed that Indian intelligence suffered from "a pronounced shortfall in operational drive" , "weak analysis of available information, received both from secret and open sources" and "a tendency to pass off media reports as intelligence".

Banerji is a 1972 batch IAS officer of the Assam cadre who served in the external intelligence R&AW and retired as Special Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat.

The Bill stipulates that the day-to-day operation of the R&AW shall be vested in an officer not below the rank of a Secretary to the Government of India who shall be appointed by the Prime Minister and who shall hold office for a period of two years or till he attains the age of sixty-two years, whichever is later.

It also stipulates that the Intelligence Bureau shall function under the control of the Prime Minister. And it shall be the duty of the IB to work for national security in the context of internal conflict and, in particular, provide protection against threats from espionage, terrorist acts organized by other countries within the territory of India w ith the help of Indian nationals or residents and from actions intended to subvert the Constitution of India by violent means.

The day-to-day operation of the NTRO shall be vested in a chairman who shall be appointed by the Prime Minister and who shall hold office for a period of two years or attaining the age of sixty-two years, whichever is earlier. The Bill calls for constituting a National Intelligence and Security Oversight Committee to examine the administration and compliance of policy laid down under this Act.

The UPA government, while stressing from time to time that Indian intelligence needs to be worthy of the challenges the country faces to its security in the 21st century, has done nothing to expedite either the passage of the Manish Tewari tabled bill nor adoption of any of the recommendations of the Banerji-led Task Force.

 

[john70]

Task Force Wants Major Revamp of National Security Apparatus

A national security task force, headed by former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, has submitted its final report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Among the recommendations it has made, the task force, which had 13 others from Defence, intelligence, diplomacy and strategic affairs sectors, wants a major revamp of the structures and operating procedures of security and intelligence agencies.

The task force, set up in July 2011, was mandated to review existing processes, procedures and practices in the national security system and suggest measures for strengthening the national security apparatus wherever needed, including in non-traditional security sectors.

The report, prepared after 10 months of work, also wants India's planning commission to have a say in working out India's security policies.

The task force's work is likely to be the basis for India to prepare its first ever national security doctrine.

"Its members had extensive discussions between July 2011 and May 2012 with concerned ministries and departments as well as with several state governments and others.

"They also called on the prime minister, finance minister, Defence minister, external affairs minister, home minister, planning commission deputy chairman and the three Defence chiefs," according to the government..

"The task force has made an assessment of the security scenario facing the country and made recommendations to the government. The report of the task force is now with government for its consideration," it added.

Among other recommendations from the task force include greater say for the armed forces in national security decision-making and greater access to the prime minister and the country's top political leadership.

It also wants a designated political leader from the government to oversee the country's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

If the report's recommendations are accepted, a key change in the Defence forces would be the focus given to role, capabilities and deployment of Special Forces commandos for key national security operations.

The task force's effort follows a similar first-ever focused exercise carried out under strategic affairs expert and former Defence secretary, the late K. Subramanyam, about 10 years ago soon after the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

The task force had former Intelligence Bureau chief PC Haldar, former Research and Analysis Wing chief KC Verma, former National Investigation Agency chief RV Raju, former Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, and former Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen VR Raghavan, apart from bureaucrats Brajeshwar Singh and Vinod K Duggal as members.

Other members of the task force were National Council of Applied Economic Research director Suman K Berry, former diplomat and high commissioner to Pakistan G Parthasarathy, former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, former Mumbai Police commissioner D Sivanandan, and journalist Manoj Joshi

 

[john70]

A welcome effort, hope so the political leaders follow it up well.

 

[nrj]

Reports & recommendations are being submitted all since Kargil mess up. Sad fact of the matter is that no Govt acts on it.

Why many recommendations of Kargil Report are still not implemented ? KS Subramanyam died asking everyone to act on it.

This is a welcome step but one can only hope!

 

[john70]

Recently I feel there is some urgency in defence developments. This was never seen before, somehow now I like this defence Minister, Antony. Last few years achievements are quiet unbelievable in Indian senario. I am not talking about finishing of long standing projects alone.... They had been concieved long back and are being completed now, I am rather talking of an overall responsible behaviour and decisive steps being taken recently.

Lets all hope for best.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Modernisation of national security apparatus

MODERNISATION OF NATIONAL SECURITY APPARATUS

B.RAMAN

The Government of India has taken the first important step towards the modernisation of our national security apparatus by commissioning a study of the apparatus as it stands today and as it ought to be to counter likely future threats from other States and non-State actors.

2.The exhaustive study, lasting nearly 10 months, was undertaken by a special Task Force headed by ShriNaresh Chandra, who has had the distinction of having served as the Defence Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary as well as the Governor of Rajasthan and our Ambassador to the US during the critical period following our nuclear tests of 1998. He is, therefore, no stranger to the internal and external aspects of national security and to the linkages between national security and national strength. The report of the Task Force was submitted to the Prime Minister on May 23,2012.

3. The exercise has now moved into the second and even more important step of implementation. Any exercise of this nature, however comprehensive, will be fruitful only if the acceptable recommendations are quickly identified and prioritised and action taken for their timely implementation.

4. The exercise entrusted by the Government to the Task Force was not a post-mortem necessitated by any national security failure or set-back. It was a forward-looking exercise meant to visualise the likely national security tasks of the future keeping in view the evolving threats to national security as well as our requirements as a major power in the years to come.

5. The exercise undertaken by the Task Force had its tactical as well as strategic components. The tactical component related to identifying the gaps and deficiencies of today in national security management and recommending measures to remove them.

6. The strategic component had an element of vision about it. How is the security scenario likely to evolve in the foreseeable future? What kind of new threats and vulnerabilities are likely to arise for which we have to be prepared? How to create a modern national security apparatus befitting India's status as a major power and how to find the resources for it? These were some of the questions that have been sought to be addressed by the Task Force.

7. Such exercises are undertaken regularly in the US and other Western countries everytime a new Head of State or Government assumes office. This is the first time that such an exercise has been undertaken in our country since we became independent in 1947. It is to be hoped that this will become a regular feature and that such an exercise to ensure a steady modernisation of our national security apparatus will be undertaken at least once in 10 years.

8. National strength and national security go hand in hand. Without comprehensive national strength there cannot be comprehensive national security and vice versa. Resource priorities for the modernisation of the national security apparatus in a developing country like India cannot be the same as in Western developed countries.

9. In a country like ours the requirements of the people have to have the first priority. Even while not neglecting this, one has to find the resources for constantly upgrading our national security apparatus. How to do this? That is a difficult and complex question to which the answer has to be found by the political leadership on the basis of the various options identified by the professional experts---serving and retired.It is important to work towards a national political and intellectual consensus on the need for a time-bound modernisation of our national security apparatus and for finding the required material and human resources even while not overlooking the priorities for the common man.

10. While it is for the Government to decide on the drill to be followed for the implementation of the Task Force report, three aspects to be kept in view may be underlined:

· Firstly, the need to take the public into confidence to the extent possible on the main features of this exercise so that it has broad public support.

· Secondly, the need to ensure institutional and political consensus at every stage of the implementation.

· Thirdly, the need for a standing mechanism to monitor the implementation process.

11. It would be neither possible nor advisable to make the entire report of the Task Force available in the public domain. Its assessment of the external security scenario is sensitive and could have a negative impact on our diplomacy if made available in the public domain. But its assessment of the internal security scenario and resource constraints could be made available in the public domain after suitable editing.

12. The implementation process cannot be satisfactory unless all Government departments and institutions that might be affected by the implementation positively or negatively co-operate in the implementation exercise. If they co-operate only in respect of those recommendations that are favourable them and oppose those that are not favourable, the implementation will be half-hearted. A political consensus at the central level and between the Centre and the States would smoothen the implementation process.

13. The monitoring of the implementation by the National Security Council Secretariat or by any other suitable mechanism would ensure that the recommendations do not fall in limbo. ( 25-5-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )


:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

 

[LurkerBaba]

Reports and recommendations are also politicized =


Filtering out NDA

The Task Force on National Security, headed by Naresh Chandra, recently submitted its report to the Prime Minister. However, members of the committee were in for a surprise. The PMO wanted references to the achievements of the Vajpayee government removed from the document. The final draft had consequently to be re-worked and portions relating to the Kargil Review Committee instituted by then Prime Minister Vajpayee, were omitted. The recommendations of the Group of Ministers constituted in 2000 to act on the Kargil Committee Report's findings were also deleted. The PMO instructed the Task Force report focus simply on how the UPA views national security. In spite of censoring the major portion concerning the NDA government, in some chapters, references to the Kargil Review Committee and the GoM's recommendations still crop up.

Filtering out NDA - Indian Express

 

[ejazr]

It's time to pass Tiwari's bill on intelligence reforms

The late US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote in Secrecy: The American Experience (Yale, 1998) that the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco, which brought personal embarrassment to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, could have been avoided if the CIA had studied a 1960 public opinion poll by Princeton's Institute for International Social Research. The poll clearly showed that there was no possibility of any shift in the Cuban public's allegiance to Fidel Castro. Ignoring this, the CIA mounted an ambitious operation to train and launch Cuban exiles for an "internal uprising" (17-19 April 1961), spending millions of dollars and ending up with 118 American deaths.

This national shame and subsequent Watergate abuses led to assertive Congressional oversight even on clandestine operations by scrutinizing intelligence budget. Their British "cousins" were slow to catch up till a series of intelligence controversies forced them to enact the 1989 Security Service Act and 1994 Intelligence Service Act codifying oversight on MI-5 (Internal), MI-6 (Foreign) and GCHQ (Technical). Christopher Andrew, chronicler of MI-5's official history, quotes military historian Sir Michael Howard on traditional British attitude: "In Britain the activities of the intelligence and security services have always been regarded in much the same light as intra-marital sex. Everyone knows that it goes on and is quite content that it should, but to speak, write or ask questions about it is regarded as bad form." It was no wonder that our own British modelled security bureaucracy took a dim view of my piece in a national daily on 27 April 1998, recommending institutional oversight on our intelligence agencies.

Fortunately, there are signs of change. While our government continues with its negative attitude, Manish Tiwari, Congress spokesperson and MP, has introduced a private bill (The Intelligence Services — Powers & Regulation — Bill 2011) trying to codify oversight on our three major intelligence agencies (RAW, IB and NTRO) much on the same lines as the British laws. The draft bill provides fairly clear charter for each agency to prevent poaching on each other's turf. For example, IB is strictly to do "collection and management of intelligence within the country", restricting its creeping foreign presence. All agencies are forbidden to "take any action that furthers the interests of any political party or coalition of political parties or other such interest groups". They should send bi-annual reports with accounts to the Prime Minister. No intelligence chief can now hope to get gubernatorial appointments after retirement, being not "eligible for reappointment to any post under the State except as an Advisor to the Government of India". Like the UK's Intelligence & Security Committee, whose reports are available publicly, there will be a "National Intelligence and Security Oversight Committee" headed by the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The proposed members are the Speaker, Prime Minister, Home Minister and Opposition leaders. Their annual reports are to be tabled in Parliament. There will also be an "Intelligence Ombudsman" to address departmental grievances and a "National Intelligence Tribunal" chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate public complaints. Then there are strict rules on electronic interception.

Surprisingly, the bill does not mention the National Security Adviser even once, appearing to make his office redundant. The most puzzling is the role of the Home Minister, whose only function is as member of the "National Intelligence and Security Oversight Committee".

In the UK, the concerned ministers (Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary for MI-6/GCHQ and Home Secretary for MI-5) are given lead roles in oversight functions, besides the PM. In the Indian version, too much responsibility is on the Prime Minister, as all activities are directly under him. However, an overburdened PM will surely delegate his responsibilities to his PMO, whose roles in the past were less than encouraging if we analyse how they failed on sensitive issues like the Coomer Narain spy case, intelligence integration on Kargil and 26/11, as well as the current 2G scam. Since the NSA has already managed to create a sizable bureaucracy, will it not be better to codify his role in intelligence integration without his being able to prevent direct access of intelligence chiefs to PM?

It might be also a good idea to expand the Ombudsman's charter to include the inspector general's powers provided under the US law of immediate internal scrutiny to prevent abuses.

 

[ejazr]

Raman's strategic analysis: THE NATION HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW

1962:India suffered a humiliating set-back in the Sino-Indian war. Many believed that the set-back was attributable to the then political, military and intelligence leadership. An enquiry was held into some of the aspects of the set-back. This enquiry report has not so far been released to the Indian public

1965-66:India suffered two set-backs. During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, the Indian Army unit, which was ordered to open the Lahore front, got bogged down. The Army blamed the Intelligence Bureau for poor intelligence regarding the Ichogil Canal. In 1966, the Mizo National Front under Laldenga took the Indian Security Forces by surprise and practically over-ran the entire Mizoram. The Army retrieved the ground subsequently and beat back the MNF.A senior officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India was asked to enquire into allegations of failure by the IB in both the cases. His reports reportedly absolved the IB of any blame for these set-backs, but led to the decision of Indira Gandhi to bifurcate the IB and create the R&AW on September 21,1968, to deal with external intelligence. The Indian public and research scholars have been denied access to these enquiry reports.

1971: The R&AW, hardly three years old, played a highly-commended role in the events of 1971 preceding the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971 that contributed to the success of the Bangladesh freedom-fighters. As it happens in the case of secret agencies, many of the decisions, operations and other actions of the R&AW were based on oral instructions from Mrs.Gandhi and others who played a role in the decision-making at the higher levels. There was no written documentation in the Archives of the R&AW giving a total picture of the role of the R&AW. In 1982, Indira Gandhi recalled R.N.Kao from retirement and appointed him as Senior Adviser in the Cabinet Secretariat. He felt that in the absence of an authentic written documentation of the role of the R&AW, future generations of R&AW officers would remain in the dark about the operations of the R&AW during 1971----particularly after all the officers who had played a role in 1971 pass away. At his suggestion, the R&AW recalled from retirement an officer of the Army information wing who had served in the R&AW in 1971 and asked him to interview all officers, senior and junior, who had played a role in 1971 and write an authentic narrative of the role of the R&AW in 1971.He did part of the work. Kao resigned after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31,1984. The R&AW terminated the services of this officer and discontinued the project. Many of the officers, who had played a role in 1971, including Kao himself, have since passed away. About half a dozen are still alive--- either in their late 70s or early 80s. A legendary officer from Kerala, of whom any intelligence agency in the world will be proud and who acted as the right hand man of Kao in 1971, is in his early 90s. When these officers also pass away in the next few years, no authentic record of the role of the R&AW in the events of 1971 will be available. Their knowledge, however feeble now, will die and be cremated with them. The Government should revive this project urgently, complete it quickly and make it available to the public and scholars.


1975-77: The Intelligence agencies and the Central Bureau of Investigation played a role in enabling Indira Gandhi to proclaim and sustain the State of Emergency for three years. There were allegations of serious misuse of the agencies by her and her advisers in the Government and the Congress to browbeat her critics and those opposed to the Emergency. The Morarji Desai Government, which came to office in 1977, ordered two enquiries into these allegations and other connected matters relating to the Emergency. The first was a quasi-judicial enquiry by the Shah Commission. The second was an administrative enquiry into the alleged misuse of the agencies conducted by a committee headed by L.P.Singh, who was Home Secretary under Indira Gandhi in the years before the Emergency. The Shah Commission's report was released to the public, but the L.P.Singh committee report was not released to the public by any of the Governments that had held office since 1980. Hopes and expectations that the A.B.Vajpayee Government would release the L.P.Singh Committee report and other documents relating to the Emergency were belied. It is high time now to release all these accounts to the public so that we have a comprehensive and authentic record of the State of Emergency in public domain.


1984:Mrs.Gandhi made frantic efforts to avoid having to send the Army into the Golden Temple at Amritsar for what came to be known as Operation Bluestar. She initiated back channel talks/contacts with important Sikh leaders in the Punjab as well as in the diaspora to find a peaceful outcome. The back channel contacts with important Sikh leaders of the Punjab were handled by Rajiv Gandhi and his young associates. One back channel contact with a Sikh leader of the diaspora was handled by Kao. These back channel contacts spoke very positively of Indira Gandhi and her sincere search for a peaceful outcome to the crisis in the Golden Temple. The Government should ensure that the documents relating to these back channel contacts are properly preserved for evaluation after some years whether they could be released to the public.


2002: Kao passed away in January 2002. Before his death, he had reportedly recorded a narrative of some of his experiences and had it deposited for safe custody in the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library in New Delhi for release to the public some years after his death. One doesn't know what time-bar he had put on its release to the public. It is now more than 10 years after his death. The Government owes it to the memory of Kao, who had served the country so brilliantly, to ensure that his narrative becomes available to the public once the time-bar is over. Any attempt to keep it permanently in darkness in the Library would be an insult to the memory of this distinguished and proud son of India.


The Government should appoint a high-powered group to go into all these reports and documents, excise portions that could have an adverse impact on State-to-State relations with other countries and release the rest to the public. Possible domestic embarrassments should not be a ground for excising any portion(23-6-12)