The defence Secretary, Ajay Singh, is reportedly due to retire at the end of
this month ("Search for a new defence secy speeds up", TOI, June 28).
Bureaucrats in the running for the post included Pratush Sinha, Shekhar
Dutt, Adarsh Kishore and DP Singh.
Sinha was said to be the front runner for the coveted post. But in a recent
bureaucratic shuffle ("Bureaucratic reshuffle in key ministries", TOI, July
3?), he has been appointed elsewhere. Hence the post of Defence Secretary is
still up for grabs.
MoD is a huge ministry with four departments. Its also unique given the
legendary tussle between the babus and the military. The defence secretary
wields financial and policy power over the three military chiefs given his
closeness to the Defence Minister. This results in some understandable
friction with the former.
The key question for us is whether the new defence secretary (whoever it is)
will have an enlightened view of the Indian aviation sector at the current
juncture and get the military to loosen up esp at Goa. Chances are that
despite the big talk of the Defence Secretary's big clout, he may be a
"captive" of the military and politely do their bidding except in some
largely inconsequential matters! A pity that.
