Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report
Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report was an internal review by the Indian Army in 1963. It studied why India lost the 1962 war with China. It criticised both the political leaders and the military leaders. The government has never officially released it, so it remains a secret document. It matters because it is the main official study of the 1962 failure.
Example
After the 1962 defeat, Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon quit and Nehru was blamed for being naive and unprepared. The Army then ordered this 1963 review to find out what had gone wrong at the front.
Don't confuse with
- Kargil Review Committee: this was a committee chaired by K. Subrahmanyam. It studied the 1999 Kargil conflict, and its report, From Surprise to Reckoning, was tabled in 2000.