Katana VentraIP

Kargil Review Committee

The Kargil Review Committee (KRC) was set up by the Government of India on 29 July 1999, three days after the end of the Kargil War. The committee was set up "to examine the sequence of events and make recommendations for the future".[1][2][3]

Over a hundred senior military, civil service and intelligence officials, politicians, including former prime ministers, diplomats and journalists were interviewed by the committee over a period of five months. The report was completed on 15 December 1999 and was tabled in the Parliament of India on 23 February 2000.[4][5][6] Certain parts of the final KRC report, such as the findings, have remained confidential.


The Committee found numerous flaws on multiple level of intelligence collection, operational strategies and procedural sharing of data.[7][8] As per the KRC's recommendations, a Group of Ministers (GoM) and several task forces were set up to do a complete review of the Indian security system. The GoM subsequently conducted a comprehensive review of the entire security apparatus. This became the first review of its kind in independent India's history to be made public, although in the interests of national security, the government initially redacted several parts. The recommendations of the KRC report and the GoM report led to far-reaching changes in the Indian security apparatus.

Background[edit]

The Kargil Review Committee laid out the context of the report. They noted that the national security system in the country had seen very little changes since the 52-year-old framework outlined by Hastings Ismay and recommended by Louis Mountbatten. In these 52 years, India had undergone the Sino-Indian War, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, as well as increased nuclear danger, the Cold War, persistence of the hybrid war in Kashmir for more than ten years, and a revolution in military affairs elsewhere.[9]


India tried major defence reforms following the Sino-Indian War in 1962, but these did not address national security in a holistic way. They decided to assess defence needs on a five-year basis, leading to the First Defence Plan. The Ministry of Defence and, subsequently the Department of Defence Production, Defence Research and Development Organisation and services headquarters, set up planning cells and units. A Joint Intelligence Committee was also formed. The Directorate General of Defence Planning Staff, composed of officers of various services, was formed to synergise defence planning under the Chiefs of Staff Committee in 1986.[10]

(chairperson), retired Indian Administrative Service officer and head of the National Security Council Advisory Board (NSCAB)

K. Subrahmanyam

Lt Gen K. K. Hazari, former Vice Chief of the Army Staff

member National Security Council Advisory Board

B.G. Verghese

Satish Chandra, secretary of the and member-secretary of KRC

National Security Council Secretariat

The committee consisted of:


Brajesh Mishra, the national security advisor at the time, assisted in the establishment of the Kargil Review Committee.[11]

3 May 1999: A Pakistani intrusion in Kargil is reported by local shepherds.

24 July 1999: The Union cabinet of India gathers a committee to look into the Kargil War.

26 July 1999: The Kargil War officially comes to an end and the Indian Army announces complete eviction of Pakistani intruders.

29 July 1999: Kargil Review Committee (KRC) is set up.

15 December 1999: KRC Report finalised.

7 January 2000: The committee submits its report to the prime minister, , on 7 January 2000

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

23 February 2000: KRC Report tables in Parliament.

[4]

17 April 2000: The government establishes a Group of Ministers (GoM) to comprehensively scrutinise the national security system in its totality and "in particular to consider the recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee and formulate specific proposals for implementation".

[12]

26 February 2001: The GoM finalises its report.

National Security Council

Intelligence

Counter-terrorist operations

Border Management

Defence Budget and Modernisation

National Security Management and Apex Decision Making

India's Nuclear Policy

Media Relations and Information

Technology

Civil–Military Liaison

Declaratory Policy for LOC

Task Force on Intelligence Apparatus: , a retired Indian Police Service officer, the Jammu and Kashmir governor at the time and a former RAW chief

G. C. Saxena

Task Force on Internal Security: , a retired Indian Administrative Service officer and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, Defence Secretary and Home Secretary

N. N. Vohra

Task Force on Border Management: Madhav Godbole, retired Indian Administrative Service officer and former Home Secretary

Task Force on Management of Defence: , advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs and former Minister of State for Defence

Arun Singh

Following the Kargil Review Committee report, a Group of Ministers (GoM) was set up by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on 17 April 2000 to consider the recommendations in the Kargil Review Committee. The GoM consisted of the ministers of home affairs, defence, external affairs and finance. Brajesh Mishra, the National Security Advisor, was also assigned as a special guest to the meetings of the GoM and the Cabinet Secretariat provided help to the group.[15]


The GoM established task forces, as suggested in the KRC report:


The GoM came out with its own report "Reforming the National Security System".[16] It was submitted to Prime Minister Vajpayee on 26 February 2001.[17]

A thorough review of the national security system in India, which was done by the GoM

A full-time

National Security Advisor

Improved aerial surveillance, which has been accomplished by setting up satellites and inducting UAVs.[18]

RISAT

A centralised communication and electronic intelligence agency, which resulted in the establishment of the in 2004.[19]

National Technical Research Organisation

A

Defence Intelligence Agency

The establishment of think tanks, which has resulted in organizations like the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies.

[18]

The reduction of the age profile in the army

[18]

Among the recommendations in the Kargil Review Committee report, the following have been implemented:


The Kargil Review Committee also recommended that the government find ways to reduce the pension expenditure, which has not yet been implemented.


From among the recommendations in the GoM report, the following have been implemented:

Kargil Review Committee (July 2000). . New Delhi. Sage Publications. ISBN 9780761994664

From Surprise To Reckoning: The Kargil Review Committee Report

Retrieved from original from Vivekananda International Foundation on 12 December 2018.

Report of the Group of Ministers on National Security

Standing Committee on Defence (2006–2007), Ministry of Defence, 14th Lok Sabha (July 2007). "" Lok Sabha Secretariat. New Delhi. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved on 12 December 2018 from Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Twenty-Second Report. Review of Implementation Status of Group of Ministers (GoMs) Report on Reforming National Security System in Pursuance to Kargil Review Committee Report—A Special Reference to Management of Defence

Anit Mukherjee (March 2011), Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. ISBN 81-86019-88-X

Failing to Deliver: Post-Crises Defence Reforms in India, 1998–2010.

(25 February 2000). Retrieved from nuclearweaponarchive.org, 12 December 2018.

Kargil Review Committee report, Executive Summary