Defence Ministry Approves Policy To Archive, Declassify Histories Of Wars & Operations After 25 Years

The policy suggests that the committee, also comprising prominent military historians and other organisations, should be formed within two years of completion of war/operations.

New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the policy on archiving, declassification and compilation/publication of war/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence.

Each organisation such as Services, Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Indian Coast Guard will for proper upkeep, archival and writing the histories transfer to the Defence Ministry’s history division all records, including war diaries, letters of proceedings and operational record books etc., as per the policy.

“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 said in its release.

The records should, as per the policy, be declassified in 25 years while the 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 Defence Ministry’s history division will coordinate with various departments while compiling and seeking approval besides publishing of war/operations histories.

The policy mandates constitution 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 war/ operations histories.

Setting clear timelines with regard to compilation and publication of war/operations histories, the policy suggests that the committee, also comprising prominent military historians and other organisations, 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 Defence Ministry said.

K. Subrahmanyam-led Kargil Review Committee and N.N. Vohra Committee had earlier recommended the requirement of having war histories written with clear cut policy on declassification of war in a bid to analyse the lessons learnt and prevent mistakes in the future.

Asserting 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 Defence Ministry said the Group of Ministers (GoM) recommendations on national security post the 1999 Kargil war too mentioned authoritative war history’s desirability.