Happymon Jacob speaks to Anit Mukherjee, assistant professor in the South Asia Programme at the Nanyang Technological University and a former Major of the Indian Army, about the state of India’s civil-military relations, which forms the theme of his book The Absent Dialogue: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Military in India.

Mukherjee identifies the factors characterising India’s civil-military relations, which in turn have a bearing upon the effectiveness of the Indian military. He addresses the various parameters of military effectiveness such as weapons procurement, jointness, military education, defence planning, etc. which are seriously affected by “the absent dialogue” within India’s civil-military relations. Mukherjee offers several recommendations to overcome these challenges.

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