Deep civil-military synergy key to security: Rajnath Singh
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday underlined the need to deepen integration between the military and civil components of the Ministry of Defence to foster greater synergy to tackle evolving security and technological challenges, while ensuring institutional memory, stability, and the effective application of rules and regulations.
Addressing the 85th Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) Civilian Services Day celebrations, he emphasised that both the uniformed and civil services share the same commitment of ‘Nation First’, and when the objective is singular, every element of the system transforms into national strength.
AFHQ Day is celebrated on the first day of August every year to recognise the role of the personnel who work shoulder-to-shoulder with Service personnel, primarily in the three Integrated Service Headquarters, Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and 24 Inter-Service Organisations of the Ministry of Defence.
The foundation of AFHQ cadres was laid on August 1, 1942 by organising the then decentralised civilian posts/cadre operation as distinct entities under various Service Headquarters and Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence and Finance (Defence) under the control of the Chief Administrative Officer. Rajnath Singh underlined that military and administrative integration cannot proceed along separate paths, adding that, as joint and integrated structures develop, there will be a need for continuity and expertise across all areas - policy, administration, human resource management, financial processes, logistics, and institutional knowledge.
He highlighted the importance of further enhancing structured cross-exposure between civilian and military officers, suggesting joint training programmes and developmental assignments for both sides to learn from each other’s experiences.
Explaining with the example of ‘cyber warfare’, the defence minister stated that if officers of the AFHQ Civilian Services develop defence-specific common cyber tools leveraging their expertise, it could prove beneficial to the Defence Forces.
Minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth, Chief of Defence Staff General N S Raja Subramani, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defence Finance) Vishvajit Sahay, Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Additional Secretary Manish Tripathi, JS & CAO Amitabh Prasad and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
