The Indian Foreign Policy Bureaucracy by Jeffrey Benner

Author:Jeffrey Benner [Benner, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, American, Asian American Studies, Social Science, Political Science, World, Asian, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781000302417
Google: JgaiDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 4907566
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1985-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

6.5.3 Community Fission

Since Janata, the intelligence apparatus has more than recovered. Ram Nath Kao now holds for the purpose of coordination and control the position of advisor-in-charge of the RAW, IB and CBI. The RAW, still headed by Sankaran Nair, had in the late seventies perhaps over forty stations, both inside India and abroad. No great changes have occurred, though there was talk in 1980 of establishing a "watchdog committee" to oversee intelligence activities. It is unclear whether any-thing ever came of this talk and whether the committee would coexist with or replace the JIC. At present foreign intelligence is the reserve of both the IB and RAW, the IB collecting most of its information on the neighboring countries or on foreign "influences" (the official term for international-national penetration) within the country. The RAW is generally concerned with foreign intelligence but has Special Bureaux in most of the larger Indian cities and state capitols.40 While the IB collects foreign-related intelligence, only the RAW has employees stationed in missions abroad as diplomats, and it is with the RAW that foreign policy is most closely concerned.

The entire intelligence set-up, despite initial recover, is threatened with fracture. Inside the IB is an ongoing battle between deputationists, officers who got into the IB through deputation from the other law enforcement agencies, and direct recruits who were brought into the IB after the first communist electoral victory in Kerala (when the IB was expanded greatly to keep the communist movement under surveillance). The RAW'S work is interrupted by continuous strikes, usually called by the lower-grade employees. The Aviation Research Centre (ARC), established in 1963 under the directorate-general of security (DG[S]), is torn by accusations of improper promotion practices, the abuse of deputation, and the like. Internal dissension also threatens the Special Frontier Force and the Special Services Bureau (third wing of DG[S]).41 Besides these internal intrigues, the intelligence set-up has had clashes with non-intelligence sectors of the government, particularly MEA.

Intelligence, mainly the RAW, has been involved in the foreign policy process in a number of ways, to the consternation of Indian diplomats. While it is not known at present exactly what contribution RAW makes to the formulation of policy, we can discern the reaction of MEA diplomats to this invasion of their realm. There is absolutely no coordination between the MEA and RAW organizations. There may be some communication between the RAW director and the foreign secretary (Asoka Raina writes that foreign secretary T.N. Kaul and RAW chief R.N. Kao worked well together42), but when it happens it is a capstone without a base to support it. MEA officials as a group are not only uncooperative but, for several reasons, actually obstructive of RAW's activities. First, MEA officials understand that RAW often prepares reports on the same topics that the diplomats do, and that Gandhi and key advisors such as Parthasarathi may ignore MEA papers in preference for RAW reports. MEA officials have no idea how often this happens, or what the best way to counter this may be.

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