Question: On 12th June 2021, Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved a new policy on archiving, declassification and compilation/publication of war/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence. What is the time frame that has been set to ordinarily declassify military records under this policy?
a) 20 years
b) 21 years
c) 25 years
d) 30 years
Ans: c
Context
- On 12th June 2021, Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved a new policy on archiving, declassification and compilation/publication of war/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence.
Facts
- Policy sets a clear timeline for compilation, publication, archiving and declassification of the histories of India’s wars and operations.
- As per the policy each organisation under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) such as Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Indian Coast Guard, will transfer the records, including war diaries, letters of proceedings & operational record books, etc., to the History Division of Ministry of Defence (MoD) for proper upkeep, archival and writing the histories.
Process prescribed in the Policy
- A committee headed by Joint Secretary, MoD and comprising of representatives of the Services, MEA, MHA and other organisations and prominent military historians (if required), will be formed for compilation of war/ operations histories.
- This committee should be formed within 2 years of completion of war/operations. Thereafter, collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned.
- The History Division of MoD will be responsible for coordination with various departments while compiling, seeking approval and publishing of war/operations histories.
- Although the responsibility for declassification of records rests with the respective organisations as specified in the Public Record Act 1993 and Public Record Rules 1997, as amended from time to time but this policy dictates that, records should ordinarily be declassified in 25 years.
- Records older than 25 years should be appraised by archival experts and transferred to the National Archives of India once the war/operations histories have been compiled.
- However government will continue to have discretionary powers over withholding any records it finds sensitive.
Need of the Policy
- The requirement of having war histories written with a clear-cut policy on declassification of war records was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee headed by K Subrahmanyam as well as the N N Vohra Committee.
- Post Kargil War, GoM recommendations on national security also mentioned the desirability of authoritative war history.
- Having authoritative war history helps in analyzing lessons learnt from past and prevent future mistakes.
By kameshwar shukla
Reference: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1726446