Col (Dr) Rajneesh Singh (Retd) was commissioned in the Infantry in December 1989 and has varied operational, staff and instructional experience. He has commanded a Rashtriya Rifles company and battalion in Jammu and Kashmir. He has been a military observer in Congo for a year. His staff experience includes tenure in the Military Operations Directorate and in Military Secretary’s Branch. The officer has also been an instructor at the NDA, Khadakwasla and at DSSC, Wellington. During his service Col Rajneesh Singh (Retd) pursued PhD at the JNU, New Delhi and was awarded doctorate in 2019.
Post superannuation from the army, the officer was a Consultant for the Ministry of Defence for over a year before joining Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in January 2023. He is presently a Research Fellow at the Defence Economics and Industry Centre.
Colonel Singh’s areas of research include higher defence management and military studies. His current area of research focusses on self-reliance in defence production.
The article deals with the issue of the necessity of identifying and maintaining equilibrium between the two key constituents of the higher defence organisation (HDO) of the country, namely, the civil bureaucrats and the service officers. In India, the military and the bureaucracy share a very delicate relationship. Though the protocol issues between the various appointments have been defined by the government, there is a requirement of greater clarity in the working relationship between them.
The Chairman COSC will neither be the Commander of India’s Armed Forces nor will he be able to do justice to his advisory role because of the constraints that will affect his functioning in the present system.
