Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approves policy on archiving, declassification, and compilation of war/operations histories

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the policy on archiving, declassification, and compilation/publication of war/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence. The policy envisages that each organization under the Ministry of Defence such as Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles, and Indian Coast Guard, will transfer the records, including war diaries, letters of proceedings and operational record books, etc., to the History Division of Ministry of Defence (MoD) for proper upkeep, archival and writing the histories.

The responsibility for declassification of records rests with the respective organizations as specified in the Public Record Act 1993 and Public Record Rules 1997, as amended from time to time. 

According to the policy, 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. 

The History Division will be responsible for coordination with various departments while compiling, seeking approval, and publishing war/operations histories. The policy mandates constitution of a committee headed by Joint Secretary, MoD, and comprising of representatives of the Services, MEA, MHA, and other organizations and prominent military historians (if required), for compilation of war/ operations histories.

The policy also set clear timelines concerning the compilation and publication of war/operations histories. The above-mentioned Committee should be formed within two years of completion of war/operations. Thereafter, the collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned.

The requirement of having war histories written with the clear-cut policy on declassification of war records was recommended by Kargil Review Committee headed by K Subrahmanyam as well as N N Vohra Committee to analyze lessons learned and prevent future mistakes. Post-Kargil War, GoM recommendations on national security also mentioned the desirability of authoritative war history.

Timely publication of war histories would give people accurate accounts of the events, provide authentic material for academic research and counter the unfounded rumors.