Those who persuaded I. Ramamohan Rao to write this book — his daughter Smita and his son-in-law, Sanjiv Prakash, CEO, Asia News International (ANI), and others who aided the process must be thanked.
Those who persuaded I. Ramamohan Rao to write this book — his daughter Smita and his son-in-law, Sanjiv Prakash, CEO, Asia News International (ANI), and others who aided the process must be thanked. Because this book with interesting and informative anecdotes covering six decades of Mr. Rao's professional life- which still continues- joins many dots and dashes of India's highly eventful post-Independence history, much of which still remains not fully disclosed.
The other major aspect of the author's life as a government information officer is that having pioneered into the field of defence information, he covered the Indian Contingent of United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in Gaza, was involved in dealing with dispatches of the Sino-Indian war (1962) from New Delhi, did full-fledged coverage of the second and third of India's three semi- conventional wars waged by Pakistan (1947-48, 1965 and 1971- all in which Pakistan inducted armed tribals ) and about two decades later, the fourth- Pakistan's proxy asymmetric war by terrorism- which continues unabated till date. This apart, his stint with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), his working with four of India's prime ministers as the Principal Information Officer and post-retirement tenures as advisor to Jammu and Kashmir and the defence ministry make his career graph quite unique. Further, a diplomatic assignment of establishing the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Cultural Cooperation at Trinidad and Tobago and fi ally his -"crossing the fence-" to join a major media house only add to that uniqueness.
Directorate of Public Relations Department came into existence in June, 1940 as a result of the then ongoing World War II with Brigadier Ivor Stuart Jehu as its first Director in India. After independence, it became the Directorate of Public Relations of Ministry of Defence (MoD), abbreviated as DPR Defence and headed by a director deputed by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
Having begun his service in 1956, Mr. Rao's first foray into defence was in 1961 as the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Indian contingent of the UNEF in the Gaza strip. Returning from there to New Delhi in 1962, he was in DPR during the Sino-Indian war. Shortly afterwards he was posted to Jammu and opted to don the Army uniform as an Honorary Captain and. He then continued in uniform and was actively involved as a PRO during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Later he was promoted to the rank of Honorary Major and appointed as PRO, Army, during the Indo-Pak war in 1971. Thereafter he reverted back to the PIB and the next time he wore the uniform again was as an Honorary Brigadier, when he became Director, Public Relations, MoD.
Since Independence it emerged that while a government information officer's job is not an easy one, a government defence information officer's is fraught with many issues and problems. The politico-bureaucratic establishment, to put it mildly, was not too well-disposed towards the armed forces. It failed to appreciate India's geo-strategic placement and related threats to its security. Instead of accepting the advice of military commanders on these threats-the Chinese one being a classic example-the key political leaders and their bureaucrats, already steeped in ignorance about matters military, treated the military leadership with suspicion, while creating and spreading a phobia about military coups/takeovers, that too about the only armed forces in the entire sub-continent, which obeyed the elected government's orders-even some mindless/stupid ones. Perceptions about national security, image projection were blinkered along with lack of transparency supposedly for national security, but very often to hide the government's weaknesses, flawed decisions/policy or its -"political considerations-". So in this morass of skewered civil-military relations and a disastrous deficiency of strategic thought-process/culture and thereby resources also, a defence spokesperson, who aimed to deliver, often walked a tightrope.
During the 1971 Indo-Pak war, when Indian Army shocked its Pakistani counterpart with the Tangail airborne operation in East Pakistan-soon to become Bangladesh- and there were no photographs of Indian Army paratroopers jumping down, Mr. Rao took the bold step of releasing 1000 photographs of a para-drop he had covered in Agra, which were published on front pages world-wide. Of course there was some 'fire' against Mr Rao, who did not lose any sleep over it.
To the author's credit, right from his first defence assignment with the UNEF Indian contingent onwards, he performed very well, importantly in such a job enjoying the confidence of the government, the military and the media. As late as 1975, the government finally got down to inducting armed forces officers into DPR as PROs. The first of them, Col P.N. Khera, VSM (who served as PRO, Army and then Joint Director in DPR, MoD for seventeen years) recalls that on joining in 1975, he looked forward to meeting Mr. Rao, as he had heard high praise of him from many quarters. After the author's UN assignment, he was offered to join the organization, but declined. Another officer mentioned in the book, honorary Colonel V. Longer, of the information service, who had been Joint Director in DPR, got posted to R&AW as head of its information wing and may have been instrumental in Mr. Rao also following him there and becoming a -" Kaoboy-" (after R.N. Kao, its founder).
The author 's professionalism had impact wherever and with whoever he served, as reflected by his interactions with four prime ministers and the fact that he was accepted by/in demand by different governments. The pace set by him as DPR, MoD could not unfortunately be maintained by all his successors. Over a decade after his tenure, at a time when Indian Army's engagement was country-wide and overseas was at its peak, this directorate lost the key post of one of its two joint directors-that held by a regular armed forces officer.
In March this year Mr Rao was awarded the Dr MV Kamath Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement for his service in the field of journalism at the Public Relations Council of India's 9th Global Conclave. His book should be read by politicians, government information officers, diplomats, bureaucrats, armed forces officers and journalists as well as students studying political science and international affairs.
