Full-time defence minister can bring reform the way Rao-Singh combine did to the economic sector

At a time when the India-China stand-off in Bhutan is showing no signs of moving towards a modus vivendi and the NSA (National Security Adviser) Ajit Doval having attended a BRICS related event from July 27- 28 in Beijing, it is appropriate to review the Indian experience of the Defence Minister’s portfolio in the cabinet — and interrogate the proposition of why India needs a full-time incumbent in this critical office.

The track record over the last 70 years is mixed and specific to China — then Defence Minister (DM) Krishna Menon played a disastrous role in the 1962 war with China. In many ways, the Menon chapter of India’s military history is a template for what a DM should not be and the dangers inherent in a feckless interpretation of the civil-military relationship in a robust democracy.

An empirical review is instructive. The current incumbent Arun Jaitley is the 30th DM and has the distinction of holding a dual charge since March, along with the onerous responsibility of being the Finance Minister, having successfully steered the GST bill through tempestuous waters. Jaitley was also the 28th DM when he assumed this charge (again as a dual hat) from May to November 2014.

A dual charge has been resorted to in the past and in NDA, Jaswant Singh was both defence and finance minister from March to October 2001. Some PMs have also retained the defence portfolio for brief periods and this includes Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao; as also VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar for the few months they were in office.

Some individuals have been in the chair twice — and Jaitley apart, the list includes Narasimha Rao (first as DM and later as PM/DM); Jagjivan Ram, Swaran Singh; and Indira Gandhi (as PM/DM). This empirical record would suggest that the PM of the day has retained the flexibility to either have a dedicated DM — or has shared the responsibility through the PMO or within the cabinet.

However, given the enormity and complexity of India’s  external and internal security challenges, the need to have a dedicated DM needs little reiteration and even more than a single individual from among the ruling party who is appointed DM for a reasonable length of time — there is a case to nurture a gene-pool among legislators who have some affinity and empathy with the security domain.

Tending to India’s national security interests in a holistic and objective manner goes beyond the tenure of one PM and needs both temporal continuity and all party consensus in the legislature. This, alas, has been elusive in the Indian context where defence/military issues are rarely discussed objectively and constructively. Arid zero-sum bickering has become the norm in Parliament.

India’s higher defence management is in dire need of reform and this was identified in a cohesive manner after the 1999 Kargil War. However, then PM Vajpayee, who to his credit embarked on this Herculean task was unable to see it through.

One could argue that this was largely due to a strategic culture within the Indian political constituency that is indifferent to national security and the more arduous task of rewiring an institution inherited from a colonial past.  

A dedicated DM could revisit this challenge of reforming the security domain in much the same manner that the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh combine did to the economic sector in the early 1990s. PM Modi, for all his earnest rhetoric apropos national security, is in urgent need of domain expertise in the manner that Dr Singh and his team provided PM Rao.

Normatively, a dedicated Indian DM ought to provide the civilian political oversight and guidance to a huge constituency that includes — a one million plus uniformed fraternity, the vast defence production empire, the DRDO, the Indian private sector, and external interlocutors who include the neighbours and the major powers.

Without a full-time DM, many of the functions and long-term national defence and security planning that should be the mandate of the DM is now being performed differently by the PMO, the MEA, DRDO, AEC and the Home Ministry. This is undesirable and the result of this stasis is evident across the spectrum.

From being unable to reduce the import bill for military inventory to ineffective responses — as the Mumbai attack of  2008 and the more recent Uri-Pathankot attacks have revealed — there are numerous gaps that need to be redressed. From nuclear deterrence to introducing joint commands, managing internal security and dealing with neighbours such as China, even a dedicated DM would have a full plate and lots spilling over.

As India prepares for its 70th anniversary of independence — the sanctity of protecting this cherished status merits dedicated attention in the cabinet. Over to you PM Modi.

The writer, a former Commodore in the Indian Navy, is Director, Society for Policy Studies, Delhi. Views expressed are personal.