New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday (June 12, 2021) accredited the policy on archiving and declassification of war and operations histories.
As per the policy, data ought to ordinarily be declassified in 25 years and data older than 25 years must be appraised by archival specialists and transferred to the National Archives of India as soon as the war and operations histories have been compiled.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the policy envisages that every organisation below the Ministry of Defence similar to Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Indian Coast Guard, will switch the data, together with war diaries, letters of proceedings & operational file books, and so forth, to the History Division of Ministry of Defence (MoD) for correct repairs, archival and writing the histories.
“The History Division will be responsible for coordination with various departments while compiling, seeking approval and publishing of war/operations histories,” the Ministry of Defence stated in an announcement.
It additionally said that the policy mandates structure of a committee headed by Joint Secretary, MoD and comprising of representatives of the Services, MEA, MHA and different organisations and outstanding navy historians (if required), for compilation of war and operations histories.
“The policy also set clear timelines with regard to compilation and publication of war/operations histories. The above-mentioned Committee should be formed within two years of completion of war/operations. Thereafter, collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned,” the official assertion additional added.
The Ministry of Defence knowledgeable that the requirement of having war histories written with a transparent lower policy on declassification of war data was advisable by Kargil Review Committee headed by Okay Subrahmanyam in addition to NN Vohra Committee with a view to analyse classes learnt and stop future errors.
“Timely publication of war histories would give people accurate account of the events, provide authentic material for academic research and counter the unfounded rumours,” the MoD stated.
