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 (10^th 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 15^th 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.

Choose Wisely

I am not a poet and i cant be one. This is my first attempt in about last 7 years; this is dedicated to all the Officer Trainees of 88th foundation course of Indian Civil Services.

Many many people try but very few of them succeed,

 in this long and arduous odyssey of toil, tears and fear,

We come with lofty ideals and zeal to change the world,

Only to find horrendous enticement and ills of the world,

We claim to represent the poor of the nation,

We claim to work for the poor of the nation,

But in the temptation of power, lust and greed,

We casually, deliberately ignore the lofty ideals,

And our own big list of toil, tears and fear,

We continue to preach the ills of the system,

The deadly combo of money, power and lust,

Even after compromising our pious ideals,

For handful of silver, flesh and some gold,

Shall we continue to tread the old weary path,

Or we will follow the footsteps of some greats,

Who carried the lamps of ideals to the greater Everest,

Without ever demanding glory or thanks,

We always have a choice to become great,

Or to join that failed brigade of commoners,

So choose wisely your Rubicon my dear friends

And i lived in Sachin's era

If they ever tell my story, let them say I shared this planet with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat  but the names of these giants will never die (Lines by Greek Hero Odysseus). Let them say they lived in the era when 'Warne The Spinner' bowled, let them say they lived in the era when Sampras-Federer-Nadal racketed the court, let them say they lived in the era when Ussain Bolt bolted the race, let them say they lived in the era when Ian Thorpe-Michael Phelps broke Olympic records, let them say that team Australia was the champion team in that era, let them say they lived in Michael Jordan's era, let them say they lived in Tiger Woods era etc, i would say i lived in Sachin's era that surpassed all those eras like the pole star that shines brightly but never shakes from its place. Sachin is the only person who created a rare homogeneity and uniformity in otherwise highly fragmented society of India. They said that right time to commit a crime is the time when Sachin is batting as even the Gods will be busy watching that inning.

The people of my generation are extremely lucky to see through the scintillating career of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I started following Cricket during India's tour of down under in 1991-92 when India  played a limited over triangular series with Australia and West Indies and my impressionable mind was mesmerized by the sheer elegance of Sachin Tendulkar and it continues to be mesmerized by him even now. I remember very clearly bunking a rare class just to watch Sachin's inning against Sri Lanka at Delhi during 1996 World Cup. Cable TV came to my home in late 1990s but even that delay could not diminish my love for the game. I used to go to a TV shop (some 2 kms away from my home) just to watch Sachin's innings in late 1996 and 1997, specially the Indian tour of South Africa in 1996-97. Such was the connection that almost all my friends wept when Sachin failed to win that Chennai Test against Pakistan after scoring brilliant 136 runs. 

With the coming of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman Indian batting became very strong and we as a team started impressing the world in the same as The Beatles hypnotized the world with their symphony. No one would forget the great inning of Sachin against Pakistan in 2003 World Cup and no one would certainly forget the master musical of these Beatles in 2002 and 2007 tour of Old Blighty. We destroyed the arrogance of Australia multiple times and even drew a series in Australia against the barbaric hordes of Steven Waugh in 2003-04. The failure in the final of 2003 World Cup was washed to the hilt by the glorious victory in 2011 world cup; this was the ultimate cup of joy and it returned to India after a gap of 28 years. Many of my friends and i wept on that very night of 2nd April 2011. My father, a great fan of Cricket and a very fine player himself did not live to see this grand victory. 
Many pundits compared various players with Sachin, starting from Brian Lara to Yusuf Yohana, from Steven Waugh to Inzamam-ul-Haq, from Mark Waugh to Ricky Ponting, from Kevin Petersen to Rahul Dravid but all these comparators only trifled with their bats at the feet of Sachin Tendulkar. In the end master remains a master while challengers simply atrophied away. He faced existential crisis many a times in his career but every time he overpowered them with his strong work ethics, superb talent and Herculean will power. It is said its extremely difficult to make it into Indian National team, to play consistently for 24 years is a target next to impossible. Players come and go, records are made and broken, but a phenomenon can never be repeated, it can only be enjoyed and relished, and Sachin has been the greatest sporting phenomenon we have experienced. Now you have taken retirement from Cricket i would only say that your journey and records are not only yours but ours too. Every run scored, every pain encountered, every match won, every match lost was ours.  Wish you all the best to all your future endeavours and i pray to God (or to no-God) that your stories shall continue to inspire generations of India in this sport-hero devoid country of ours, Amen.
I end this article with the famous line from another Hollywood flick "The Blue Max". A German General while awarding a medal to a war hero says that "This may look small to you but this is the highest medal Germany can give". Perhaps we would say the same about awarding Bharat Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar.