Ministry of external affairs declassifies 70,000 documents

[Yusuf]

NEW DELHI: India's starchy foreign office is loosening its laces. Quietly, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has been declassifying official documents that have been held under wraps for the past 65 years, signaling a welcome change in an otherwise possessive mindset.

The documents are a trickle, but they are coming. Pinak Chakrabarty, special secretary in MEA, recently announced the declassification of 70,000 documents, going up all the way until 1972. This despite the fact that according to Indian law, the government has to declassify documents 25 years old. After the Right to Information Act, this has been reduced to 20 years.

Chakraborty said that 12,388 files have been handed over to the National Archives. "These files include more than 3000 files relating to North and South America, 1,095 files relating to Eurasia, more than 1,700 files relating to the United Nations, 702 files on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and more than 5,100 files on Policy, Planning and Research," he said.

Chakraborty added that more files are being "scrubbed" before they are handed over to the archives — there are many, over 280,000 that MEA officials still need to go into.

The trouble is the declassification process depends heavily on the head of the territorial division. Therefore, joint secretaries, who are generally overworked, are also tasked with declassification decisions. Since they cannot afford to get this wrong, the default response is to delay. There is a definite need to create an alternative system. Chakraborty said MEA was toying with several ideas, including enlisting the help of some retired officials for the task.

Then there are the "top secret" documents that will probably never get touched. There have been joint secretaries who have famously declared that declassification of documents like the 1962 China war ones would only be done "over their dead body".

This love of secrecy has emasculated any serious historical or analytical work on contemporary Indian history. Most retellings of the 1962 war are by hearsay or from personal memoirs by eye-witnesses or those that served when monumental decisions were taken. That cannot possibly constitute serious strategic thinking, because in the absence of adequate dissemination of official information, strategists and historians can only see a partial truth.

But much more than that, there needs to grow a sense that almost all official interactions between Indian and foreign leaders serve a historical purpose. History is made not only through official documentation, but also through conversations between world leaders. There should be some kind of mechanism by which these interactions are recorded for posterity. For instance, Indian researchers should be able to access the conversations between PM Manmohan Singh and say, US President George W Bush, during the nuclear deal. Twenty years later, the White House transcripts of these conversations will be made public.

Ministry of external affairs declassifies 70,000 documents - The Times of India on Mobile

 

[nrj]

This despite the fact that according to Indian law, the government has to declassify documents 25 years old. After the Right to Information Act, this has been reduced to 20 years.

RTI may be is the single best thing happened to India in last decade.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Then there are the "top secret" documents that will probably never get touched. There have been joint secretaries who have famously declared that declassification of documents like the 1962 China war ones would only be done "over their dead body".

Nobody lives forever.

 

[ant80]

Nobody lives forever.

Quite the contrary, any criticism of Nehru, and the Congress acts as if he is still living. Nehru was a stupid small minded man who was nowhere close to being a visionary. Yet his followers idealize his idocity to such a degree that everyone starts acting like he can walk on water and cure cancer.

 

[Rage]

I'd love to know the name of the joint secretary who said, the declassification of documents on the 1962 China war would happen only "over his dead body".

In my opinion, from a military analyst's and political scientist's perspective, this is the single most important subject on which documents must be declassified. The truth of the debacle must be borne out in the open so that we can inform future decisions, particularly in an age where China is rising fast and our relations with them are assuming multi-paradigmatic importance.

 

[trackwhack]

Then there are the "top secret" documents that will probably never get touched. There have been joint secretaries who have famously declared that declassification of documents like the 1962 China war ones would only be done "over their dead body".

Someone should kill the moron so we can take a look.

 

[Yusuf]

I'd love to know the name of the joint secretary who said, the declassification of documents on the 1962 China war would happen only "over his dead body".

In my opinion, from a military analyst's and political scientist's perspective, this is the single most important subject on which documents must be declassified. The truth of the debacle must be borne out in the open so that we can inform future decisions, particularly in an age where China is rising fast and our relations with them are assuming multi-paradigmatic importance.

I am sure that there is so much blame on Nehru-Menon-Kaul trio that the govt will never declassify. I think when the NDA comes to power, people should demand the declassification of the report.

 

[trackwhack]

I am sure that there is so much blame on Nehru-Menon-Kaul trio that the govt will never declassify. I think when the NDA comes to power, people should demand the declassification of the report.

gotcha!!!

 

[SADAKHUSH]

Then there are the "top secret" documents that will probably never get touched. There have been joint secretaries who have famously declared that declassification of documents like the 1962 China war ones would only be done "over their dead body".


Is he still alive?