SECTION - 2

NEFA ENQUIRY & DEFENCE PREPAREDNESS

EDITORIAL NOTE

Following the debacle of Indian Army in Kameng Sector of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), the Prime Minister had assured the Parliament that he would institute an enquiry into the debacle.

Shri Y. B. Chavan had to take the initiative to determine the type and the nature of enquiry to be undertaken. He very soon sensed that such an enquiry could rebound on the political leadership because ultimately, in a Parliamentary democracy, the political leadership in the Government had a responsibility to direct the Armed Forces. Considering the sensitivity, he asked the Chief of Army Staff to set up a purely military appraisal of the debacle in NEFA with a view to drawing lessons for future. This enquiry known as the Henderson-Brooks committee was thus a purely internal enquiry. The results of this enquiry were briefly summarised in a Statement which was presented to the two Houses of the Parliament on September 2, 1963 and debated along with another Statement on ‘Our Defence Preparedness’.

The handling of the NEFA Enquiry including the Statement that was presented to the Parliament and the spirited and able defence of Shri Y. B. Chavan put up in both the Houses of the Parliament are a high water mark of his Parliamentary career.