A tribute to doyen of India Strategy and 1951 batch IAS topper K Subrahmanyam

Doyen of India’s strategic affairs and 1951 batch topper of Indian Administrative Service K Subrahmanyam is no more. KS or Subbu, as was fondly called by his colleagues and friends, died in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences at the age of 82.

The civil servant who was instrumental in shaping India’s nuclear and defence doctrines, has a huge fan following in bureaucracy and diplomatic circle. One of his three sons S Jaishankar is a 1977 batch Indian Foreign Service officer and is currently Indian ambassador to China. (In Picture: The Bina used by K Subrahmanyam's wife remained a decorative item at his residence)   

Subrahmanyam held a number of senior Indian government positions including chairman of India’s Joint Intelligence Committee, home secretary in Tamil Nadu and Union secretary for defence production in the ministry of defence. But he is best known for his stints at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses which he virtually built almost single-handedly.

The following are excerpts of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s condolence message to his son S Jaishankar.

“It was with great sadness that I learnt of the passing away of your father, Shri K Subrahmanyam, who was one of the country’s leading security experts and strategists. Beginning with his work in the Ministry of Defence in the early sixties, Shri Subrahmanyam's distinguished career in public service spanned many decades as a civil servant who maintained the highest traditions of the bureaucracy through his honesty, dedication and exceptional abilities… Shri Subrahmanyam wrote seminal works on an array of subjects covering our nuclear posture, India-Pakistan relations, intelligence matters, disarmament and issues of regional and global strategic importance. His work as head of the Kargil Review Committee was widely recognized both inside the government and outside it.”

Action and Appointments

a) R C Sinha, a 1962 batch retired IAS and chief of Maharashtra Airport Development Company was told to quit by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, according to reports. Incidentally, Sinha was hired by the then PWD minister Nitin Gadkari, now BJP president, for construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai.

b) Wajahat Habibullah, India’s first chief information commissioner, was on Wednesday appointed as the chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). The NCM remained headless for over four months now after Mohd Shafi Qureshi had retired. A 1968-batch IAS officer, Habibullah will hold office for a period of three years. Former IPS officer from Mizoram, HT Sangliana is the vice-chiarman of NCM.