Thursday, December 12, 2013

Communal Harmony Essay Contest

Today, I won First Prize in Communal Harmony Essay Contest, organized by National Foundation For Communal Harmony, New Delhi and LBS Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.


Essay Topic: Communal Harmony and the question of cultural identity

                                                                        
“Let the noble ideas and deeds come from all sides

--- The Rig Veda (Word’s oldest scripture)



The Beloved of the Gods, the king Piyadassi, honours all sects and both ascetics and laymen, with gifts and various forms of recognition. But the Beloved of the Gods do not consider gifts or honour to be as important as the advancement of the essential doctrine of all sects. This progress of the essential doctrine takes many forms, but its basis is the control of one's speech, so as not to extoll one's own sect or disparage another's on unsuitable occasions, or at least to do so only mildly on certain occasions. On each occasion one should honour another man's sect, for by doing so one increases the influence of one's own sect and benefits that of the other man; whileby doing otherwise one diminishes the influence of one's own sect and harms the other man's. Again, whosoever honours his own sect or disparages that of another man, wholly out of devotion to his own, with a view to showing it in a favourable light, harms his own sect even more seriously. Therefore, concord is to be commanded, so that men may hear one anothers principles and obey them. This is the desire of the Beloved of the Gods, that all sects should be well-informed, and should teach that which is good, and that everywhere their adherents should be told……

                                                                ---- 12th Major Rock Edict of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (3rd century BC)



WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and opportunity; and to promote among them all;

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of individual the unity and integrity of nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION

                                                                --- Preamble of Indian Constitution



Above three historical texts (and this is not an exhaustive list) come from three different eras of Indian history separated by a huge time distance but all three converge into a theme message and the objective of harmony among the masses of India in particular and world in general. The openness of mind as extolled by Rig Veda, ‘the tolerance of others thoughts and beliefs’ as written in the edicts of Ashoka, the doctrine of Sulh-i-kul (universal tolerance) propounded by Mughal Emperor Akbar and the preamble of Indian Constitution all underscore this fundamental idea of humanity. These ideas are more important now than they were in any time of Indian history. It is imperative for India and her citizens to strive for the ideals of communal harmony and ‘harmony of different cultural identities in conformance with Indian identity’. Within India we can be Marathi, Telugu, Tamil or Gujrati but outside of India we are only Indian. India can only truly advance after achieving these ideals.

Cultural identity is the function of certain customs, behavior, traditions, language etc local to a region and as long as this manifestation is not hijacked or exploited to suit some ulterior motives of a person or an organization at the expense of other’s cultural identity, India and Indians can live in harmony without any conflicts among different identities.

Communal Harmony


India is a country of mammoth size with a very complex history; birthplace of numerous religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism etc) and cultures (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali etc) ; refuge of numerous cultures and religions (Judaism, Zoroastrianism etc). India is also enriched by the religions and culture originated in Middle East, Africa, Europe and elsewhere like Islam, Christianity, Pop culture, Rock etc. Numerous tribes and countries had invaded and migrated to India since time immemorial and after those invasions and migrations the invaders and migrants merged with the people of India like Aryans, Kushanas, Hunas, Shakas, Indo-Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols, Mughals etc. So it is difficult to define the culture or identity of India thus making the definition of cultural identity more difficult.  



When Jews were persecuted in Europe and in Middle East (after the fall of Temple of Solomon) India gave them refuge, and they lived peacefully for next 1800-2000 years in India, enriching the culture of India. India still has beautiful synagogues in Mumbai, Kochi etc. No one persecuted them in India except the Portuguese rulers of Goa. Zoroastrians also got refuge in India when they were facing persecution in Persia (now Iran) in 7th century AD and now India proudly has the largest population of Zoroastrians (called Parsis in India) anywhere in the world. Parsis contributed immensely in the freedom struggle of India, her economic development, her education sector etc. Some of the big names are Dada Bhai Naoroji, Pheroze Shah Mehta, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, JRD Data, Homi Jehangir Bhabha etc. Mahatma Gandhi once said about Parsis “I am proud of my country, India, for having produced the splendid Zoroastrian stock, in numbers beneath contempt, but in charity and philanthropy perhaps unequalled and certainly unsurpassed

It is true that Turks, Afghans, Mongols, Mughals etc invaded India many times, looted and destroyed its temples, killed its people and converted its people to their religion (many by use of force) but it is equally true that they defended India from further invasions, integrated India politically, reformed the administration of India, enriched the architecture of India and its culture. After Ashoka no one tried to create a harmonious and tolerant India for next 1800 years except Akbar and Akbar was the son of a foreign invader Humayun.

Although there had been many conflicts, battles and wars between Hindus and Muslims yet they lived and still live peacefully for many centuries as neighbours and as brothers in different parts of the country.  They fought may be for less than 1% of the time but these conflicts have been exaggerated to a momentous proportion and the peaceful existence for more than 99% of the time has been belittled. The likes of British Historian James Mill (1773-1836) started the cult of communalization of Indian history by treating Hindus and Muslims as two different people and he named Hindu period and Muslim period as two historical periods in his book “The History of British India”. Since then we all have been zealot followers of his cult and Indian history and India has been taking this beating; Muslim Heroes have become villains of Hindus and vice versa, eg If Prithviraj Chauhan is the hero of Hindus then Muslims have Muhammed Ghori to counter him and vice versa etc. The rise of various fundamentalist groups in early 20th century and the partition of India on religious lines in 1947 further strengthened this spurious cult. It is very unfortunate that people miss many times deliberately that Hasan Khan Mewati (Muslim ruler of Mewat region of Haryana) allied with Rana Sanga (Hindu ruler of Chittor) against Muslim invader Babur, similarly Muslim artillery expert Ibrahim Gardi led Muslim artillery unit in Maratha army in fight against Ahmed Shah Durrani in epic third battle of Panipat in 1761 etc; such examples are numerous; now how can one decide a Hindu hero and a Muslim hero. I leave the answer to the followers of that cult.

India’s largest minority has been paying a huge cost of the partition of 1947, many of their majority community brothers charge them of betrayal in 1947 and even now they question their patriotism. Minority community is often seen at the receiving end in most of the riots, their causalities are often in disproportionately large number compared to their proportion in the population of the country. It’s not in interests of the country to leave its largest minority (other as well) alienated and underdeveloped. The rule of law should be applied in a just and fair manner without taking into account the religious identity of one group or the other. Our media and investigating agencies should also show professionalism in their methodologies else our country may have to pay a larger price in future. “Let justice be done though the heavens fall” should be the motto of our agencies.

Cultural Identity


Like many religions India is home to many regional cultures (Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri, Naga, Odiya, Gujrati, Marathi etc)) and this is a matter of great pride for any country but even this matter of pride has been exploited to further the cause of cultural chauvinism of one group over another. Eminent Lawyer Nani Palkiwala once said “We have millions of Bengalis, Marathis, Gujratis, Biharis etc in India but we have very few Indians”. In the fight for resources (water, land, jobs etc) these identities have been used to further the cause of one group against the other. Anti-Hindi demonstrations in south India first in 1930s and later in 1960s were in a way protest against the alleged cultural invasion of south by north; similarly the protests against Kaveri Water Dispute Tribunal decision took the issue of Kannada identity versus Tamil identity.  Many regional parties have got success in their constituencies by using or exploiting these issues by bringing cultural identities or religion in picture. The recently formed regional party in Maharashtra is another apt example.

The formation of states based on language concretized this identity on one hand but on other hand it also strengthened the concept of India by showing that Indian identity is not antithetical to regional identity. The formation of states on language basis gave rise to the demands of states based on ethnic basis (mainly on the basis of tribes etc) and now we have about 7 such states namely Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh. The demand of a separate Tamil nation in south India has no takers now because people have seen that Indian identity is not different from Tamil or a regional identity rather Indian identity is formed by many such regional identities or in other words Indian identity is an integration of all regional identities. The flagrant demand based on regional identity has very few takers in India today and this is a tribute to our constitution and its democratic nature.

The history of India tells us that India prospered whenever there was peace and harmony among masses of India (Ashoka, Akbar, Zainul Abidin of Kashmir etc) and India declined whenever there was disharmony among the masses (Aurangzeb, later period of Delhi Sultanate, later Rajput period etc). It’s up to us to make our decision wisely.

Conflicts: Cultural Identity


                As discussed above India is home to a large number of cultural and ethnic groups. These groups vary from Naga people (they used to practice head hunting almost 50 years back) to highly civilized urban people (a significant percentage of these people are involved in foeticide and selective abortions); from miniscule Jarawas (less than 200 in number) to 90 million plus Bengalis.  Someone has rightly said – “If you say something about India, the opposite is equally true”. There are divisions even in the seemingly uniform ethnic group mainly based on caste and religion. So in a seemingly ethnically uniform village one can find divisions like Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Brahmins, Scheduled Castes etc. There are so many divisions and contradictions in Indian society but even then these societies live with each other in relative calm and harmony compared to the perpetual warring societies of Middle East and elsewhere.  The invisible glue of mother India glues us together; this glue is not magic but the value system that governs the lives of all the Indians, codified in the Constitution of India. This value system gives hope to the last man in the queue, most deprived man in the village many such people.

The major causes and occurrences of conflicts (all of them are driven by string social, political, ethnic, religious and cultural identities):

·         Conflict over resources

o   Kaveri River Water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

o   Dispute over Telangana in Andhra Pradesh

o   Krishna River Water dispute mainly among between Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

o   Naxalism

o   Assam issue/ULFA

·         Political power

o   Kashmir conflict

o   Bodo conflict

o   Gurkhaland conflict

o   Khalistan movement of 1980s.

o   Extremism

o   Assam issue/ULFA

·         Language conflict

o   Anti-Hindi demonstrations of 1960s in south India

o   Conflict between Maharashtra and Karnataka over Belgaum

·         Religious conflict

o   Hindu-Muslim conflict

o   Hindu-Christian conflict

o   Extremism

·         Caste based conflict

o   Caste based violence

o   Naxalism

·         Tribal conflict

o   Naga conflict

o   Other conflicts of North Eastern India

            Indian constitution provides ample safeguards to protect the culture and interests of various groups and makes special provisions for protection of the culture and interests of minority ethnic groups (based on tribes, religion, language etc). These provisions are enumerated in Part 3 (Fundamental Rights), Part 4 (Directive Principles), Part 10 (Scheduled and Tribal Areas) and part 17 (Languages) of Indian constitution. India has been able to solve various serious conflicts like Khalistan conflict, Assam conflict, Naga conflict (to a significant degree), Krishna and Kaveri water disputes, Language conflicts etc by working within the framework of the India Constitution. The conflicts among various groups take serious shape only when these provisions are not implemented in letter and spirit. India should take serious learning from the example of erstwhile Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was the major country of South East Europe, consisting of a large number of ethnic groups like Serbs, Slovenes, Croats, Albanians etc and two major religions Orthodox Christianity and Islam. It remained a unified country till late 1980s but the rise of Slobodan Milosevic trigged the decline of Yugoslavia. His concept of “What is good for Serbia, is good for Yugoslavia” eroded the faith of other ethnic groups in Yugoslavia and after series of bloody war Yugoslavia disintegrated into Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro,  Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus what is good for Uttar Pradesh does not necessarily mean good for rest of India; the same is the case with religion what is good for Hindus does not necessarily mean good for India. 

To avoid conflicts there should be equality among various groups and masses of India. Equality has many dimensions:

·         Political

o   Equal rights in the electoral process

·         Economic

o   Equal opportunities in economic progress of the country, inclusive development

·         Social

o   No discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, color etc

o   Equal opportunities in social development of the country

·         Cultural

o   There should be cultural equality among various cultures. No culture should dominate at the expense of others. The folk culture, tribal culture etc should be given equal importance as given to classical culture (as manifested in classical music, drama and dance) of India.

To a large extent Indian constitution provides for these equalities but implementation of these objectives depends on every India. I know many people in Delhi and elsewhere who call person from North East as Chink or Chinki (in highly derogatory manner, this can be seen in popular Bollywood Film “Chuck De India”) and I also know many people in Bangalore who use equally offensive term for people from north India. If we need laws to remove this trait then it’s a shame on all of us. We should not need laws to implement some very basic ideas, these should be very natural.

            Former captain of Indian Cricket Team, Rahul Dravid makes an interesting observation in his Bradman Oration 2011 (excerpts taken from his speech):

…….. Let me tell you one of my favourite stories from my Under-19 days, when the India Under-19 team played a match against the New Zealand junior team. We had two bowlers in the team, one from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh - he spoke only Hindi, which is usually a link language for players from all over India, ahead even of English. It should have been all right, except the other bowler came from Kerala, in the deep south, and he spoke only the state's regional language, Malayalam. Now even that should have been okay as they were both bowlers and could bowl simultaneous spells.

Yet in one game, they happened to come together at the crease. In the dressing room, we were in splits, wondering how they were going to manage the business of a partnership, calling for runs or sharing the strike. Neither man could understand a word of what the other was saying and they were batting together. This could only happen in Indian cricket. Except that these two guys came up with a 100-run partnership. Their common language was cricket and that worked out just fine ……

This example from the field of Cricket can be taken anywhere; Indians need to develop a link language, link culture, common understanding and a common value system to cancel the differences among them. Fortunately we have a common link language in form of Hindi/English, a common culture in form of our films, Cricket etc and common value system in form of our constitution. The only thing lacking is our moral conviction to make that seemingly impossible 10th wicket partnership of 100 runs.

Conclusion


                Eminent Jurist Fali Sam Nariman writes in his autobiography ‘Before Memory Fades’ that “If minuscule number of Parsis can contribute in such an immense proportion in the development of India then the largest minority of India can also make huge contribution if rest of Indians show faith in them”. This is an apt description of a major problem that India as a country has been facing since 1947. This problem is more pervasive and blistering north of river Narmada. What has happened centuries ago should not be allowed to create problems in 21st century India. Violent past should not be allowed to make our present and future violent. Every country has experienced horrible invasions and massacre and India is not an exception. Moreover, Indians have discriminated its own people by various ugly forms of caste based discrimination.  But what has happened, happened. We all should learn from our past mistakes and try to make our present and future less violent and more magnanimous. India has enough space for all religious, cultures and identities to live in peace and harmony but has no space for wars and conflicts. Communal harmony and cultural identities are not antithetical to each other; cultural identity is glue that binds the community together while communal harmony harmonizes the relations between different communities.

Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta Maurya patronized Jainism, his son Bindusara patronized Ajivika sect and his grandson Ashoka patronized Buddhism, and they did that without discriminating against other sects and religions. We desperately need this respect, magnanimity and tolerance in current era. Our civilization has always believed in good of all, always been magnanimous; it’s a high time that we all become worthy inheritors of this great civilization.

sarvé bhavantu sukhina , sarvé santu nirāmayā |

sarvé bhadrāi pashyantu , mā kashchid_dukha-bhāg-bhavét||

(May all live happily. May all enjoy good health. May all see auspiciousness. May none experience distress. May peace prevail everywhere)

Sunday, December 01, 2013

Very fine Gentleman and a champion athelete :(

On the fateful day of 24th November 2013, my dear friend and fellow Officer Trainee Shri Abhishek Sharma died because of Cardiac arrest during the Athlete meet of 88th Foundation Course of Indian Civil Services at Tatya Tope Stadium, Bhopal. My acquaintances with him was slowly developing into a great friendship only to be undone by the mortal interrupt. 
Shri Abhishek Sharma was born on 19th Feb 1985 in Jaipur, he was the eldest son of a middle class Sharma family. By profession he was an Engineer and worked in National Thermal Power Corporation for about 7 years in Chattishgarh. He sacrificed very fat salary and green career in NTPC for the highly challenging and some how desolate career in Indian Civil Services. He was allotted Indian Defence Account Services and was doing Foundation Course with us at RCVP Noronha Academy in Bhopal since 2nd Sept 2013.
He was a highly disciplined man, a champion athlete and a born leader. He was instrumental in winning the Limited Overs Cricket Tournament held in Oct 2013 in RCVP Noronha Academy. He played a gem of an innings in the finals and but did not showab even an iota of arrogance. He was my Quiz partner and we as a team participated in 2 Quizes and performed really well together. 
We used to talk about training at NIFM, Faridabad and future challenged in our careers. He got married very recently and was a dedicated husband.
He was very serious in his village trip and did not roam around like many of us. He was spot on with his study. He was the one the 4 leaders of our group in Manali Trek and he performed his role superbly. He was very religious but not fanatic.
On that black afternoon of 24th Nov, he participated in 1500m race, 100 m heats, 200 m heats and long jump, although he was the fittest man around but almighty decided differently and he died.
We all miss you Abhishek; 28 years is not the age to die perhaps God has closed his eyes or there is no God. 

You said that we would stay together for 8 more months in Faridabad,
You said we would prepare again if UPSC gives us another chance,
You were my Quiz partner and a very close friend,
You were a man of principles and a very humble man,
You were a champion athlete without an iota of arrogance,
You were a true leader and a responsible man,
You shined among us like a Pole Star and were our Conscience keeper,
We will cherish your memory forever but your death will haunt us forever,
We pray to God to give your family compassion and strength to,
overcome this great and irreparable loss,
Rest in peace brother, we will meet you in some time

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Army Symposium - Essay on 'Is there scope for integration of Defence and Civil services by considering cross attachment of officers during the early and middle levels of their careers?'

Essay Topic: Is there scope for integration of Defence and Civil services by considering cross attachment of officers during the early and middle levels of their careers?
I wrote an essay on this topic on 21st Oct 2013; it was read by me on 30th Nov 2013 in Indian Army Symposium held in RCVP Noronha Acedemy, Bhopal. Major General Sunil Chandra was our chief guest.

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“Let the noble ideas and deeds come from all sides”

 --- The Rig Veda (Word’s oldest scripture)

India is a country of continental proportion surrounded by most of the heavily populated and “hostile” or not so friendly countries. Indian Defence Establishment i.e. Indian Military and allied corps, has been playing a superb role in maintain the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country. It enjoys a very healthy and respectable relation with the people of the country. On other hand, Indian Civil Services is considered as The Steel Frame of India and has been playing equally important role in running day to day affairs of this vastly heterogeneous country. Both the services are equally important and without any one of them our country will cease to exist and stop to run. So our country can benefit a lot by considering the cross attachment of officers during the course of their careers. I will try to reason out this premise in subsequent paragraphs.

Evolution of Defence and Civil Services: A Historical Perspective

In ancient civilizations like Sumeria, Egypt etc there was no difference between the Defence and Civil Services; in war time the officers led the countries in capacity of Defence Officers and in peace time the same officers administered the country like Civil Service Officers.
In ancient Rome the Officers of the Republic came from the Senate.  Great Conquerors like Julius Caesar, Pompey, Octavian Caesar etc started their careers as Senators. They expanded the boundaries of Roman Empire by conquering the Western and Eastern Europe respectively. After the wars they administered the assigned territories as Civilian Administrators. The same was the case with Hellenic Greece and central Asia.
Although there had been some cases where the Civilian and Defence roles were played by different officials but these cases were the luxuries of classical period or epitome of the great Civilizations.
In India the case was bit different. The Later Vedic period talks about two main categories of Officers – Senani and Purohita. Senani was the military commander while Purohita was the chief adviser of the King and later he became the head of administration and the appellate of Mantri was bestowed on him.  This system continued until the foundation of Delhi Sultanate. The Turks brought the civilian and military structure of Samanid Empire (10th Century AD) of Central Asia. In the early period of Delhi Sultanate (1192 AD to 1325 AD) the role of Civilian Officers were subordinate to military officers; the main reason was that the Delhi Sultanate was continuously in war mode because of the minority rule over non-Muslims in India as well as the continuous onslaught of Mongol invasions. The each province under Delhi Sultanate was governed by a Military Governor and he headed the very weak and unorganized Civilian administration. Aladdin Khilji (1296-1316 AD) radically transformed the system by giving more teeth to the civilian officers but these changes collapsed after his death.
The Civilian Officers and department were organized first under Tughluqs and later under Mughals and by the time British came to India, India had a well-organized system of Civil and Defence Services. Civil services controlled the revenue, courts and general administration of the country while Defence service had the responsibility of defending the country from internal and external enemies.
British reorganized these services on European lines and when they left India on 15th August 1947 India had a modern Defence establishment and very effective Civil Services.  India chose not to dismantle Civil Services amidst great call for its dismantling by the large number of people and leaders; the main credit for its salvage goes to the first Home Minister and first deputy Prime Minister of India – Shri Vallabh Bhai Patel.

Indian Civil and Defence Services: An Introduction

Indian Defence Services mainly consists of Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force along with sprinkling of various intelligence agencies and allied corps like BSF, CRPF etc. Indian Parliament has complete control over Indian Defence Services thus Constitutionally Indian Defence service is controlled by the Civilians. The recruitment into these services is highly competitive. The total strength of Indian Defence Services exceeds more than 1.5 million people; this includes allied corps as well.
Indian Civil Services consists of three types of services – All India Services, Central Civil Services and State Civil Services. All India Services include IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IPS (Indian Police Service) and Indian Forest Service. These services administer state as well as central laws.
Central Civil Services consists of about 21 organized Civil Services including Indian Revenue Services (IRS), Indian Foreign Service, Indian Railway Services, Indian Postal Services, Indian Trade Services, Indian Audit and Account Services, Indian Civil Account Services, Indian Post and Telecom Account and Finance Services, Indian Corporate Law Account Services, Indian Information Services, Indian Defence Account Services, Indian Defence Estate Services etc. Central Civil Services are concerned with the administration of Central Government.
State Civil Services are organized on the lines of Central Civil Services and they are concerned with the administration of State Government.
There are about 6.4 million Civil servants in India according to Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances http://darpg.gov.in/darpgwebsite_cms/Document/file/Civil_Services_Survey_2010.pdf
Indian Civil Service recruitment examination is considered one of the toughest recruitment examinations in the world.

Interaction between Indian Defence and Civil Services

National Security Council (established in 1998) looks into all kinds of interests of India including the security concerns; it is headed by National Security Council who reports directly to the Prime Minister of India. The National Security Adviser of India generally comes from Indian Administrative Service but this is not a rule. The Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force are also members of three layered National Security Council. The three-tiered structure of the NSC comprises the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a Secretariat. This organization consists of both Civilian Officers as well as Defence Officers. Thus we can see that at the very top there is a close cohesion between Indian Defence Services and Indian Civil Services.
The two main Central Civil Services namely – Indian Defence Account Service and Indian Defence Estate Service work closely with Defence Services of India.  These two services come under the Ministry of Defence. Indian Defence Account Service is responsible for maintaining the financial integrity of the Defence Services while Indian Defence Estate Service is responsible for administration of Defence cantonment and other establishments.
Some Officers from Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Services also go on deputation to Indian Defence sector and also to various Intelligence agencies of Indian Military. Thus we can say that even today there exists some sort of co-operation between Indian Defence Services and Indian Civil Services.

Challenges faced by India

Currently India is facing challenges of mammoth proportions. There are ongoing insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and North East, Left Wing Extremism in red corridor, riots in Northern India and religious extremism across India. These serious problems are further accentuated by the support given to these anti-India groups by our not so friendly neighbours. Apart from these religious-social-economic problems India also faces natural disasters like Earthquake, Cyclone, Drought, Floods and Tsunami. Apart from these major challenges India also face challenges on her border from China and Pakistan.

Need for close integration of Defence and Civil Services

Indian Defence Services and India Civil Services work closely to counter all these anti India forces but this relation is not very formal in nature and it is mainly on need basis.
Considering a very generic scenario - Generally Indian Army is called to control a riot or to foil the left wing extremism menace. Defence Officers are trained to fight the enemies and not trained to fight the radicals among our own people, the death of a large number of Kashmiri civilians in Army firing is one such example, while Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Service are better trained for these acts as these services work and interact with the common people of India. But Indian Civil Service Officers often lack the discipline and efficiency of Indian Defence Officers. So there is a need to learn from the best of each other and this can be done by cross attachment of Officers in their early and middle phases of their careers.  Similarly Indian Revenue Officers and Postal Service Officers can enrich the Indian Defence Services and in return they can also learn valuable values from Indian Defence Service Officers.
Indian Foreign Service Official can work in a better way if he or she has an experience of Indian Defence Service. Consider a scenario where Indian Foreign Service Officials have to strike a defence deal or to start a military negotiation, the expertise and experience of Defence Service will definitely help him or her in doing his or her job in a better way.
In United States of America and in Peoples Republic of China (I am taking these two examples as these are considered India’s rivals in postmodern world) the defence and military establishment work very closely to each other. The hunt of Osama Bin Laden would not have been successful, had Postal, Telecom and Revenue departments of USA not worked together. The case of China is no different; their entire foreign policy is dominated by the Defence personnel.
In case of insurgency in Mizoram in 1960s, India had to bomb the capital city of Aizwal by Indian Air Force because the Civilian administration failed completely. This happened because of lack of integration between Defence and Civil Services.
Most of the terrorist’s attacks on Indian had been successful because of lack of integration between these two services. The hijacking of Indian Airlines Airplane IC-814 was possible in 1999 because of the lack of integration between these two services. The same was the case with 26/11 Mumbai attacks. There are numerous such examples where Indians paid the heavy price.
India has established National Disaster Response Force; this force mainly consists of personnel from BSF, CRPF, and ITBP etc with closely associated Civil Service Officers as well. This is a great example where there is a close integration between Defence Services and Civil Services.
Indian Defence Service enjoys a great prestige among the masses of India while Indian Civil Services does not enjoy that prestige. Many Indians allege that Indian Civil Service is highly corrupt and somewhat communal while they applaud Indian Military for its Secular and corruption-less image. There have been allegations of partisan and communal behavior on certain Indian Civil Service Officers in various cases of riots and other tragedies.  I agree it is wrong to paint the entire bureaucracy in one colour because of few bad apples but I also agree that this feeling among Indians is getting intense day by day. 
India needs to formulate a policy to necessitate the close integration between Civil Services and Defence Services. The necessary attachments of Civil Service Officers in Defence Services and vice-versa can really help in better execution of the roles and responsibilities of these officers; this will also help in the national integration and will enhance the secular credentials of Indian Civil Services and also help them in destroying corruption. On other hand by this integration Indian Defence Service can know India and Indians better, can understand the complex institutions of Indian government and can become truly multi-dimensional like the Defence Services of USA, Germany etc in this ever demanding modern age. Sharing of knowledge, expertise and experience is the key to solve all the problems. So there is indeed a scope for integration of Defence and Civil Services.
The cross Services experience during the initial and middle phases of the career will help in making an officer a multidimensional expert in the senior phase of his/her career. This will ease out the delay in decision making at the top and help in the better co-ordination among the various services of India. All the problems related to trust deficit and lack of co-ordination will simply vaporize.

There is a scene in a major Bollywood film “Border” in which an Indian Air Force Official had an altercation with Indian Army Official about which force is better. Indian Army Official (Played by Sunny Deol) says “That it’s not worth if you are you and I am I am, the world becomes better if we become we” (Chaman main har tarah ke rang-o-boo se bat banti hai, Hum hi hum hain to kya hum hai, tum hi tum ho to kya tum ho). There is another popular Bollywood film “Zameen” in which an Indian Police Service Officials and an Indian Army Official work closely to foil the intentions of terrorists. Perhaps we can learn the mantra of co-operation and cross attachment from our movies if not from real life examples.