**Summary:**
On August 1, 2025, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh addressed the 84th Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) Civilian Services Day event in New Delhi, emphasizing the critical role of civil-military synergy in bolstering national security. He cited the exceptional backend support from various Ministry of Defence (MoD) departments as a key factor in the success of Operation Sindoor.
Shri Singh stressed that national security requires a whole-of-country approach, advocating for dynamism and continuous improvement within the MoD to address evolving security challenges. He highlighted the AFHQ Civilian Services' essential role in strengthening the country's security system during both war and peace, acting as an institutional memory, ensuring administrative consistency and policy continuity, and fostering civil-military collaboration.
The Raksha Mantri urged AFHQ officials to focus on capacity development by adopting best practices in training and capability enhancement from other ministries and countries. He emphasized the importance of continuous training and skill upgradation, including ethical orientation and behavioral excellence, to align actions with national interests and transform AFHQ into a value-based institution.
During the event, Shri Rajnath Singh launched the redeveloped website of the Office of Joint Secretary Chief Administrative Officer (www.caomod.gov.in), designed to provide employees and the public with information on orders, updates, and training opportunities. He also released the book "Viksit Bharat 2047: Karmikon Ke Vichar," a compilation of articles by MoD employees on topics related to Viksit Bharat, and the 32nd issue of the "Samvad" magazine, featuring employee contributions. Awards were presented to AFHQ personnel for achievements in various fields, and to children of employees for academic excellence.
The event was attended by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary Ex-servicemen Welfare Dr Niten Chandra, Secretary, Department of Defence RD and Chairman DRDO Dr Samir V Kamat, Financial Advisor Defence Services Dr Mayank Sharma, and other senior MoD officials.
AFHQ Day is observed annually on August 1st to recognize the contributions of civilian personnel working alongside service personnel within the three Integrated Service Headquarters, HQ IDS, and 24 Inter-Service Organisations of the MoD, fostering esprit de corps and serving as a bridge between Service Headquarters and the MoD.
Key Entities Referenced
Ministry of Defence: The Indian government ministry responsible for defence.
Operation Sindoors: A military operation that benefited from backend support from the Ministry of Defence.
Rajnath Singh: Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister) of India.
Armed Forces Headquarters: Refers to the headquarters of the Indian Armed Forces.
New Delhi: The location of DRDO Bhawan, where the Armed Forces Headquarters Civilian Services Day event was held.
Defence Research and Development Organisation: An agency of the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence.
Viksit Bharat 2047: An initiative and the title of a book comprising articles on topics related to India's development.
New Education Policy 2020: A policy on education by the Government of India
Ministry of Defence
Exceptional back-end support by different
departments of MoD to the Armed Forces was key to
Operation Sindoor’s success: Raksha Mantri
Shri Rajnath Singh calls for enhanced civil-military
synergy to bolster security structure & safeguard
national interests
Posted On: 01 AUG 2025 3:12PM by PIB Delhi
To bolster the security structure and safeguard national interests in today’s uncertain times, Raksha Mantri
Shri Rajnath Singh has called for enhancing the synergy between civil and military personnel, terming the
exceptional back-end support provided by different departments of Ministry of Defence (MoD) to the Armed
th
Forces as key to Operation Sindoor’s success. He was addressing the 84 Armed Forces Headquarters
(AFHQ) Civilian Services Day event at DRDO Bhawan, New Delhi on August 01, 2025.
Raksha Mantri asserted that a war is fought not just by the military, but the entire country, and in
today's rapidly-changing security scenario, there is a need to move ahead with dynamism and
innovative spirit while making constant improvements according to the evolving needs. “We cannot
leave scope for even the slightest negligence or mistake,” he added.
Emphasising that a robust administrative system is integral for a strong military power, Shri Rajnath Singh
commended the AFHQ Civilian Services for playing an important role in strengthening the country’s security
system during war as well as peace time. “AFHQ Services acts as an institutional memory for the Ministry of
Defence (MoD). It provides consistency, domain expertise and uniformity in the administration, while playing
a key role in policy continuity and establishing civil-military synergy. It is a strong pillar of a modern and
integrated national defence system,” he added.
Raksha Mantri laid stress on capacity development, urging the AFHQ officials to assess and embrace the best
practices being adopted by their counterparts in other Ministries and countries in the fields of training and
capability enhancement. “Emerging technologies, new challenges and changing global scenario indicate that
training should not be just a formal process, but a continuous cycle of development. Skill upgradation, ethicalorientation and behavioural excellence need to be added as integral parts of training,” he said.
Shri Rajnath Singh added that training components must not be limited to technical proficiency, but also
include value orientation, which can connect actions with national interests. This would make AFHQ a value-
based institution along with an administrative structure, he said.
As part of the event, Raksha Mantri launched a redeveloped website of Office of Joint Secretary & Chief
Administrative Officer (www.caomod.gov.in), which will provide all relevant information about the office to
the employees and general public. The employees would be able to get the latest orders and updates such as
promotion, transfer, status of medical allowance, salary slips and Form-16 etc. Through the website, the
employees can also apply for various training courses and workshops of Defence Headquarters Training
Institute.
Shri Rajnath Singh also released a book ‘Viksit Bharat@2047: Karmikon Ke Vichar’ and a magazine
‘Samvad’. The ‘Viksit Bharat@2047’ book comprises 40 articles written by employees of various
ranks posted in Service Headquarters and Inter Service Organisations. The articles are on various
topics related to Viksit Bharat such as digitisation, New Education Policy 2020, Artificial Intelligence,
nd
Aatmanirbharta in defence, Green Energy, and Poverty Alleviation. The 32 issue of the ‘Samvad’
magazine contains travelogues, essays, articles, poems etc by the employees.Raksha Mantri also presented awards to AFHQ personnel for their achievements in various fields
such as sports, and some of the children of the employees who excelled in academics.
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of
the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Defence Secretary Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary (Ex-
servicemen Welfare) Dr Niten Chandra, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr
Samir V Kamat and Financial Advisor (Defence Services) Dr Mayank Sharma and other senior officials of
MoD were present on the occasion.
st
AFHQ Day is celebrated on 1 August in recognition of the role of civilian personnel functioning shoulder-
to-shoulder with the Service personnel, primarily in the three Integrated Service Headquarters, HQ IDS and
24 Inter-Service Organisations of MoD. The purpose of observing AFHQ Day is to foster esprit de corps of
the civilian employees of AFHQ cadres who play the role of a bridge between Service Headquarters and
MoD.
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VK/Savvy
(Release ID: 2151255)