A blue-coloured, limited-edition government manual of over 200 pages, which is not in the public domain, has served as a go-to handbook for key bureaucrats across the country during the past week, as it outlined the response and functions of various arms of government during an armed conflict.
The Union War Book 2010 is the original limited edition, so secretive that the ministry of defence, ministry of home affairs and the cabinet secretariat officials who helped prepare it and update it annually can’t tell you who its rightful keepers are but HT learns that there is one copy with each state chief secretary apart from the Union ministries involved. And from fire drills to evacuations and sirens, the entire emergency response to-do list is dictated by this book lying on their desks.
“It tells these key officers what each one of them should do in case of a war. So there is no confusion at all and everybody has a clear idea of what protocol to follow,’’ was all that one key bureaucrat was willing to say to HT, on condition of anonymity.
The concept of the war book goes back to colonial times but every 15 years or so, a new edition is brought out. In 2010, two years after the deadly 26/11 terror attacks that saw 174 including security officials dead, the book that has now become everyone’s guide took shape. Home secretary GK Pillai who oversaw its compilation did not offer any comments when contacted by HT.
While its contents are a secret, this 15-year-old manual is being publicly cited by all authorities. For instance, after Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis held a closed-door meeting on Friday night, the CM’s office issued a note in Marathi about the highlights of that meeting. One line from that read, “Study central government’s Union war book and inform about the instructions to all the concerned.”
But wouldn’t a 2010 edition be outdated? How would it talk about disinformation and all the modern tools of technology? Were, for instance, drones that were used extensively by Pakistan dealt with in detail? “While an updated version of the book is brought out every 15 years or so, every year, the three ministries send notes. These are then pasted on the book. Technological updates are a part of it,’’ said the officer cited above.
However, they note, in times of war, old is gold. They point out that they still advocate keeping the old fashioned radio and torches, because mobile connectivity or the network could be targeted by India’s adversaries. In that situation, the government would resort to older modes of communication.
“The thing for the public to know is that the Indian establishment is very good at handling emergencies. We have a lot of experience and we all know what to do,’’ one of them said.
HT accessed one such state checklist which talked, among other things such as food supplies, about “social media management”. “For a district cyber monitoring cell in coordination with the police IT wing,” it advises officials, adding that they should track and report “inflammatory” posts. Among things to do for “administrative mobilisation”, it says “create rosters of government staff and volunteers for round-the-clock shifts”.
Many of these officials are hoping, however, that they will be able to put the book back into its locked corner soon, without having to implement it.