The defence ministry is framing new guidelines on the publication of books and memoirs by serving and retired armed forces personnel, reacting amid the controversy about retired Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir Four Stars of Destiny.
A senior ministry official said a meeting was held recently where a detailed presentation on the guidelines was made. The guidelines will likely draw from existing regulations and the provisions in the Official Secrets Act (OSA), seeking to plug procedural gaps and prevent the disclosure of sensitive operational information without proper clearance.
As India has no single consolidated law regulating book-writing by retired military officials, a mix of statutory laws and service-related norms is applied. OSA rules apply even after officials’ retirement, making it a criminal offence to disclose classified information or sensitive operational details.
Retired officers are not governed by the Army Act in matters of publication, but statutory provisions remain enforceable. If a manuscript contains operational or sensitive content, authors are expected to seek clearance from the defence ministry, where the material is examined before approval is granted.
Defence Service Regulations mandate prior written permission for a serving military person who wishes to write and publish a literary work. Content on classified information, operational matters, equipment capabilities, intelligence inputs or issues affecting national security and foreign relations is strictly prohibited, even in fictional form if it mirrors real operations.
Uproar in Lower House
The controversy began after Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition, cited excerpts from Naravane’s memoir in the Lok Sabha and referred to the government’s handling of the 2020 India-China border standoff.
The government objected, saying that the book was unpublished and had not been cleared by the defence establishment. The Speaker disallowed references to the text, describing it as unauthenticated unpublished content.
As the controversy intensified, Delhi Police registered a first information report over the alleged unauthorised circulation of a preprint version of the manuscript. The investigation is focused on how portions of the book entered the public domain prior to formal publication and whether any laws were violated in the process, news reports said.
Penguin Random House India (PRHI), the publisher of the memoir, said the memoir has not yet been published in any format. It said no authorised copies — print and digital — have been released and that any version currently in circulation would amount to copyright infringement.
General Naravane on Tuesday backed PRHI's clarification that his memoir remains unpublished.
Separately, the Centre has also amended the Pension Rules for Civil Servants in 2021 to bar retired officials of intelligence and security organisations from publishing any material concerning their departments without prior clearance from a “competent authority”.
 "Defence ministry plans clear publication guidelines amid Naravane row")
