Brig BD Mishra (retd), a former military man and now Governor of Meghalaya, addressed the 48th Advance Professional Programme in Public Administration at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi today.
The trainee officers of the programme were senior government officers, including defence officers of the rank of Brigadiers and Commodores.
The Governor emphasised on strengthening civil-military relations based on confidence building, mutual trust, mutual knowledge of civil-military affairs and a transparent interface between the civil and military leadership. He said that it is essential to have mutual respect for each other’s domain in decision making and plans implementation for good civil-military relations and these concepts and actions should be closely integrated.
Sharing his observation as a former infantry officer of the Indian Army and as head of the state, Brig Mishra called for optimisation of civil-military relations as an integral part of the national defence policy.
The Governor said that India is a democratic nation and civil power is supreme. He called upon the armed forces officers to be fearless and forthright and they must build up their professional competence to the extent that the political leaders get convinced that whatever is being suggested by the military leaders is in the best interest of the country.
He also said that he is proud to say that in Arunachal Pradesh, where he is also Governor, the present civil-military relations are at its best and has facilitated the bonhomie with the army amongst the civil population.
IIPA is a premier training and research institute under the central government’s Department of Personnel and Training.
