Inside Raisina Hill: Mauritius NSA Pick, Civil-Military Fusion & LWE Lessons

As one walks down the Hill along the Rajpath, now renamed Kartavya Path, come other edifices — Rail Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, Shashtri Bhavan, and Kartavya Bhavan on one side and Sena Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, and Vanijya Bhavan on the other. The bureaucrats who adorn the offices in these buildings decide on India's economic, social, and industrial policies. There are many tales to be told from the corridors of these grandiose buildings. We let you in on some of them here in this week's edition of "Inside Raisina Hill".

IPS Pick For Mauritius NSA

In a move having immense geopolitical significance, the government of India has nominated retired 1989-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Manipur cadre, Rahul Rasgotra, as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to Mauritius. Rasgotra, during his long and illustrious police career, had held important positions including Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Deputy Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) where he oversaw and managed counterinsurgency, border management and domestic intelligence.

The government’s decision is being seen as a strategic recalibration of India’s external security priorities. Previously, officers drawn from the external intelligence and security establishment, primarily the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Army, were preferred for appointment as Mauritius’s National Security Advisor.

Notably, the island nation in the Indian Ocean is no longer merely a friendly country bound by diaspora ties but has emerged as a crucial gateway for India’s strategic depth, maritime collaboration, cybersecurity engagement and counter-radicalisation efforts.

Civil-Military Fusion In The Books

Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla (Retd.), Member, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has written a book titled Civil-Military Fusion as a Metric of National Power and Comprehensive Security. 

The book explores the evolving relationship between peace, power, and national security, situating the concept of Civil-Military Fusion (CMF) within India’s civilizational ethos and contemporary strategic thinking. It further argues that the traditional separation between civilian and military domains in democratic systems has often led to fragmented outcomes and sub-optimal strategic results.

Through a comparative analysis of China’s Military-Civil Fusion doctrine, the American experience of civil–military integration, and India’s evolving national security architecture, it raises a critical question whether India should develop its own indigenous and democratic model of CMF, aligned with its constitutional values and institutional framework. "Civil-Military Fusion is not merely about structural integration; it is as much about cultural integration of thinkers and doers, of soldiers and scholars,” said Lt. Gen. Shukla.

“Civil-Military Fusion is much more than collaboration or coordination, it envisages the complete fusion of talents, capacities and attributes, civilian and military, for the furtherance of national security objectives, in the overwhelming national interest," he added.

CBIC: Board Leadership Expanding, 15 Senior IRS Shortlisted

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) is all set to go for a major leadership expansion ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget for financial year 2025-26 in February. The tax body’s Selection Committee has fixed the dates for personal interactions with 15 senior Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) officers shortlisted for the three vacant Member posts on the Board.

According to officials, the Selection Committee meetings have been scheduled for December 29, 2025 and January 2, 2026. The 15 officers called for interaction include: Raj Kumar, Valte Vungzamuan, Prachi Saroop, Rimjhim Prasad, Rajesh Jindal, Mayank Kumar, Arti A Srinivas, Shailendra Kumar Sinha, Abhai Kumar Srivastav, S K Vimalanathan, Vimal Kumar Srivastava, Sanjay Mangal, Sunil Jain, Anuj Gogia, Kajal Singh.

Inside An Unscripted LWE Lesson

Trainee Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad had a chance to interact with Pulluri Prasada Rao, a surrendered Maoist popularly known as Chandranna, who was a central committee member. For the IPS probationers, it was no longer a routine interaction under the Left-Wing-Extremism (LWE) module, as it soon transformed into an intense, unfiltered dialogue between Chandranna, a man who spent 45 years underground, and the officers, who will soon begin their careers in policing, sources said.

IPS trainees pressed Chandranna on issues they had previously encountered only in training manuals, such as how the Maoist organisation sustained itself for decades, who supported it, how networks were built, and how arms, logistics and cadres moved through dense forest terrains. They said Chandranna answered every question candidly, offering insights into operational structures, survival strategies, and internal functioning of the Maoist movement. A source said, “One remark in particular hit the minds of young officers, when Chandranna told them that Maoists never targeted police officials who were upright and stood for the cause of the people". Chandranna had surrendered to the Telangana Police on October 28, and the interaction took place nearly six weeks after his surrender.

SPARSH: India’s Largest Digital Pension Platform

Ensuring ‘Right Pension to the Right Pensioner at the Right Time’, the System for Pension Administration - Raksha (SPARSH), a flagship Digital India initiative, has emerged as the country’s first end-to-end digital pension platform.

Administered by the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) through PCDA (Pensions), Prayagraj, SPARSH has onboarded 31.69 lakh defence pensioners across India and Nepal as of November 2025. It replaces a fragmented system managed earlier by over 45,000 agencies with a unified, transparent and accountable digital framework. In a major achievement, the portal resolves 94.3% of legacy discrepant cases and extensive outreach for the elderly and non-tech-savvy pensioners. More than 8,000 grievances were resolved on the spot during these programmes conducted in the current financial year. 

Under the enhanced transparency and grievance resolution, the pensioners can now view complete pension details online and easily raise corrections. Average grievance redressal time has come down from 56 days in April 2025 to 17 days in November 2025.