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Opinion

Uniformly informed

Being equally adept with security parameters will greatly aid the bureaucratic machinery in discharging services, creating a conducive environment for appropriate governance

In a democratic system, the first duties of the elected political executive are governing the nation to bring about the development of all and ensuring the protection of citizens from internal and external threats. The political leadership exercises the sovereign power to this end through the bureaucratic machinery. This includes the police which is headed by officers of All India and Central Services who were recruited, trained and placed in various wings of the government to implement the policies flowing from the top. Years ago, a policy decision of great administrative value was taken by the Centre to put the newly inducted officers of all these services together for a short 'Foundation Course' at what is now the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie. This was done before they dispersed to join the establishments of their respective services at other places for full-length specialised training.

The foundation course had the merit of letting all probationers know each other and putting them on a common grid of understanding of the great cause of national governance that they were going to share in their long years of public service ahead. It would lay the turf for assured cooperation among them whenever they would have an occasion to work together in future to carry the mission of governance forward. In 1960, the year of my joining the IPS, I could see the benefit of that participation in my own experience. A long time later when I became the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, I interacted with the Secretaries at the Centre and the Chief Secretaries in the states whom I had known in Mussoorie. This made the sharing of information and thought processes with them on matters of national importance extremely smooth. All of this cooperation resulted from an understanding that we were all together in serving a higher cause.

Today, India is grappling with the challenge of pursuing economic growth of a nation of 1.3 billion people spread across far corners of the vast country and placed in uneven conditions of development. The officers of the Civil Services on whom falls the responsibility of implementing the development policies of the Centre are finding it easier to coordinate the efforts that cut across various ministries and institutions. In some part, this may be because there are no psychological barriers amongst them. In the domain of development, they had enough shared experiences to put their heads together in a meaningful way. They had knowledge of various facets of what constitutes development – financial, agriculture, infrastructure, forestry, public health and so on. The lessons of the foundation course definitely helped in all of this.

While the orientation of Civil Services to tasks of development is adequate, the national scene points to the need for an awareness program for all Civil Services. Security for all is also the concern for all and should not be deemed to be something relegated completely to the care of the national security body and specialised agencies besides the Police. Warren Christopher, the then US Secretary of State, famously said in 1993 that 'national security was inseparable from economic security' and today it is known that the targets of a 'proxy war' include economic assets and the industrial life-line. Naturally, damaging these weakened the opponent far more effectively than an open war would do. Those handling governance at decision-making levels have to have an understanding of the economic dimensions of national security.

For all of this, it becomes the need of the hour that senior officials across the spectrum of governance, who are adept at handling development, should also be fully informed of the national security imperatives that the governance had to reckon with. A little exposure to the state of affairs on the national security front and the developments of strategic value happening in the world outside in an early stage of their training might prove quite rewarding for them. In the age of knowledge, that ignorance is not bliss and an awareness of the environment in which the national government responds to the call of both development and security would be a great asset. A short module of discussion on matters related to national security in the Foundation Course for All India and Central Services would go a long way in providing a minimal basic orientation on the subject that would remain with the senior officers for the future and contribute to a sound decision making by them in later years.

Potential subjects that would qualify for being included in the presentations by professionals and strategic analysts would include National Security Scenario & Policy Responses, Terrorism & Maoism, Disaster Management, Dimensions of Drug Traffic and India's National Security Set Up & Intelligence Agencies. Every functionary of the government and even the citizens at large ought to be aware of their responsibility towards safeguarding national security. We are in an era of the covert offensive; an open external attack of the enemy is not the only threat to the nation. Our defence forces are always in a state of readiness to deal with open warfare. In the Indian context, the reality of a proxy war being conducted by a hostile neighbour underscores the importance of our counter-intelligence capabilities that security is all about. Both defence and security have to work together to produce a suitable response. Kashmir has been a testing ground for the success of Intelligence based operations of the army and paramilitary forces. The challenge here is that of neutralising the infiltrated terrorist organisations without collateral damage. Those holding senior positions in the civil side of the government can benefit from early exposure to an orientation program on the lines suggested above.

(The author is a former Director Intelligence Bureau. The views expressed are strictly personal)

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