New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has accepted the coverage on archiving, declassification and compilation/publication of conflict/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence.
Each organisation corresponding to Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Indian Coast Guard will for correct repairs, archival and writing the histories switch to the Defence Ministry’s historical past division all information, together with conflict diaries, letters of proceedings and operational file books and so forth., as per the coverage.
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“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,” the Defence Ministry stated in its launch.
The information ought to, as per the coverage, be declassified in 25 years whereas the information older than 25 years needs to be appraised by archival consultants and transferred to the National Archives of India as soon as the conflict/operations histories have been compiled.
The Defence Ministry’s historical past division will coordinate with numerous departments whereas compiling and in search of approval in addition to publishing of conflict/operations histories.
The coverage mandates structure of a committee to be headed by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence, and comprising of representatives of the Services, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for compilation of conflict/ operations histories.
Setting clear timelines with regard to compilation and publication of conflict/operations histories, the coverage means that the committee, additionally comprising distinguished navy historians and different organisations, needs to be fashioned inside two years of completion of conflict/operations.
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“Thereafter, collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned,” the Defence Ministry stated.
Okay. Subrahmanyam-led Kargil Review (*25*) and N.N. Vohra (*25*) had earlier advisable the requirement of getting conflict histories written with clear reduce coverage on declassification of conflict in a bid to analyse the teachings learnt and stop errors sooner or later.
Asserting well timed publication of conflict histories would give folks correct account of the occasions, present genuine materials for educational analysis and counter the unfounded rumours, the Defence Ministry stated the Group of Ministers (GoM) suggestions on nationwide safety submit the 1999 Kargil conflict too talked about authoritative conflict historical past’s desirability.
