The Kaoboys Of R Aw

Memoirs of the author, former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India.

Somewhere deep in the archives of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in the heart of New Delhi lies a set of papers that researchers and historians interested in recording the history of Indian intelligence, would love to get their hands on. Alas, those documents-transcripts of tape-recorded conversations with RN Kao, the legendary spy chief-are not going to be available until 2025, according to instructions left by him, months before he passed away in 2002. So until those tapes and papers are made public, any biography of Rameshwar Nath Kao or 'Ramji' to friends, colleagues and family would have to depend on personal memories of a vast array of individuals who knew him in different capacities and their interpretation of his personality and contribution.

We live in an era of nation-states. Nationhood is predicated on shared sense of past and a common purpose of future. More than nation-state, India is a civilization, a complete civilization. To keep this civilization fresh and vibrant, winds from all directions are imperative for its nourishment. But, winds cannot be allowed to build into destructive storms, that threaten to uproot the civilization, the very basis of nationhood. Jihadism and Maoism are the two main destructive storms. Fueling these storms are India’s enemies as well as the forces of proselytization. They have to be crushed both at ideological and physical levels. We have been squeamish in dealing with the problems because of the misplaced notion that all ideologies are basically benign and beneficial, they are not. 73 years of our post-independence experience is testimony. This misplaced notion has caused at least a lakh lives in Kashmir alone, resulting in ethnic cleansing of Hindus from the Valley by the jihadists. Sardar Patel did crush the communist revolt in Telangana, but in the following years due to subversion of our political class, it grew into the ‘Red Corridor’, i.e. from Tirupati to Pashupati. These forces have to be vanquished to secure the internal or the third front. This book ‘Know the Anti-Nationals’ exposes these enemies within.

The Research and Analysis Wing, India's shadowy external intelligence agency, is one of the country's least understood institutions?at least in part by design. Perhaps fittingly for a spy agency, there is very little information about R&AW in the public domain. What is this organisation, its structure, its role and vision? Why was it set up? Who are the people that run it?Set up in 1968, as a reaction to India's massive intelligence failure during the war with China, R&AW played a crucial role in the formation of Bangladesh. It has since carried out highly successful covert operations in Fiji, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, and has countered and foiled Pakistani spy agency ISI's machinations in the subcontinent. R&AW has operations in other parts of the globe too; it played an important role during the Iran?Iraq war, for instance.No country can increase its global reach without intelligence support. That India has made enormous strides in its stature and influence is testimony to R&AW's success. Yet, public accounts of its work exist only in highly romanticised fictional stories. Investigative journalist Yatish Yadav follows the lives of real agents and maps their actions in real situations. His conversations with Indian spies provide insight into how covert operations actually work. RAW: A History of India's Covert Operations is the first comprehensive account of Indian spy networks and their intelligence gathering, and their role in securing and advancing Indian interests.Read more

2The Present Book Is The First Account By A Person Who Has Actually Served In Raw At A Senior Level. Though Not An Insider, He Was Part Of The Organisation For A Little Less Than Four Years And Was Able To See Its Functioning From Close Quarters. Since He Was Concerned With Signal Intelligence Rather Than Human Intelligence Operations, Most Of The Coverage Is Devoted To The Former. The Book Brings To Light Several Lacunae In The Functioning Of The Country'S Top Intelligence Agency, The Most Glaring Being The Anomalies In Procurement Of Equipment, Lack Of Accountability And Our Dependence On Foreign Sources, With The Resultant Threat To National Security. Some Of The Hitherto Untold Stories Recounted In The Book Are: -1. How Equipment Was Purchased From Foreign Companies At Prices That Were More Ten Times The Market Price By Altering Technical Parameters. 2. How The Security Of The Prime Minister Was Almost Compromised For A Few Pieces Of Silver.3. The Circumstances Leading To The Death Of One Of Raw'S Brightest Officers, Vipin Handa. 4. The Stories Of Moles In The Country'S Top Intelligence Agencies, Including That Of Rabinder Singh. 5. The Bitter Rivalry Between Raw And Ib, And Its Effects.The Modus Operandi Of Foreign Intelligence Agencies In Recruiting Moles In India.