• ISBN13: 9788126917754
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Politics and Current Affairs
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint:
• Publication Date: July 25, 2013
• Pages: 360
• Original Price: 695.0 INR
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 380 grams

The span of this publication covers Y.B. Chavan’s stewardship of India’s Defence Ministry between November 1962 to November 1966. If the 1962 conflict with China was a debacle, the outcome of the 1965 war with Pakistan was regarded as a victory and resurgence for India’s armed forces.
The author, the only person alive who had studied Henderson Brooks Report has taken liberty to share some details. He has also reproduced the Diary written by Y.B. Chavan during the 22-day war with Pakistan in September 1965. He has also written about the Peace Conference in Tashkent held in January 1966.
Pradhan’s first-person narrative is smooth and gentle as it recalls and analyses events as they happened. The replete first hand account of political and military personalities, politics and intrigues around the Prime Minister Pandit Nehru may be of interest to students of military history, officers of armed forces and to younger generation of political leaders who in the near future will shoulder responsibility to govern the nation.

R.D. Pradhan (born 27-6-1928) has had a more varied career than most civil servants. He joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1952 in the erstwhile Bombay State.
He joined Y.B. Chavan, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on May 1, 1960 and worked as Private Secretary in Delhi when Chavan became Defence Minister.
From 1967 to 1977, he worked in international economic field in Geneva, both as India’s representative and as UN Civil Servant. Between 1982 and 1985 he was Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and retired on June 30, 1986 as the Union Home Secretary when he assisted Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to negotiate peace settlements for the Panjab, Assam and Mizoram. For that he was awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’.
He was appointed as the first Governor of Arunachal Pradesh in 1987. He also worked as Governor of Bihar for a short time. Thereafter, he was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
He is the author of a number of books on Indian contemporary history that include the following:
• Working with Rajiv Gandhi
• Debacle to Revival
• 1965 India-Pakistan War
• Never A Dull Moment
• Dragon’s Shadow over Arunachal Pradesh
• In India’s Service Abroad
For Back Cover:
“Shri Pradhan has done great service both to the memory of Shri Chavan and to public policy of our country by publishing this book. The book helps to understand the mind of Shri Chavan and that of our national leaders during a critical phase in our recent history.”
Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India