Vappala Balachandran
Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retired) | |
|---|---|
| Special Secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat | |
| In office 1992–1995 | |
| President | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Classified |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 June 1937 |
| Relatives | V.P. Menon |
| Alma mater | (B.A.) & (M.A.) Loyola College, Madras |
Awards |  Indian Police Medal President's Police Medal |
| Police career | |
| Allegiance |  India |
| Branch | Maharashtra Police |
| Service years | 1959 — 1976 |
| Rank | .png){kind=small} Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) |
Vappala Balachandran is an Indian intelligence officer. He worked as a police officer in Maharashtra in the 1960s and early 70s, and subsequently for the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India, where he was appointed as the Special Secretary in the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW).[1]
He is the author of three books, two on national security and one on the life of A.C.N. Nambiar. Balachandran has also written newspaper columns on security and strategic subjects in Indian and foreign publications.[2]
Early life & education
[edit]Balachandran was born in Burma on 15 June 1937, where his father was employed in the Telegraph Department. Originally hailing from the state of Kerala in Southern India, his family relocated back to India in 1940. His father, K. P. Kutti Krishna Menon, served as an officer in the Myanmar government and resided in Yangon until 1940; during World War II, he remained in Myanmar in service of the government. Balachandran is the grand nephew of V.P. Menon from Ottapalam, Kerala.[3]
Career
[edit]From 1961 to 1965, Balachandran was an Assistant Superintendent of Police in Nashik in northern Maharashtra. Between 1965 and 1972 he was Superintendent of Police, first in Sangli district and then in Yeotmal district. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in 1972.[4]
In 1976 he started working for the Cabinet Secretariat in New Delhi as an Analysist.[5] He retired in 1995 after serving in the R&AW as a Special Secretary.[6]
Between 2007 and 2009 he wrote several papers for the Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington, D.C. for their "Regional Voices" project. His paper "Insurgency, terrorism, and transnational trends" was included as Chapter 6 in their publication Transnational Trends.[7]
Balachandran along with R. D. Pradhan was a member of the two-man "High Level Committee" appointed by the Government of Maharashtra to inquire into the police response during the Mumbai 26 November 2008 terror attacks.[8] This committee gave scathing remarks about systemic degeneration of security establishments such as A.T.S. Maharashtra.[4]
In November 2009 he was invited by the Governor of Hawaii to be the keynote speaker at the 2009 Asia Pacific Homeland Security Summit at Honolulu and address senior police officials in Singapore on urban security and terrorism.[9][4] Balachandran spoke at the Pluscarden Programme conference on "The Future of International Cooperation in Countering Violent Extremism" at St Antony's College, Oxford University in October 2010 and in 2013 on "India's Politics of Free Expression-A Law & Order perspective" under the "Marchioness of Winchester Lectures 2013".[10] The interview was aired by the BBC radio along with three other participants.[11]
Vappala Balachandran is also an active columnist who writes for The Sunday Guardian and The Asian Age newspapers.[12][13]
Awards
[edit]In 1975, Balachandran was awarded the Indian Police Medal for meritorious service and in 1986, The President's Police medal for meritorious service.[14]
Books
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Gordon, Nicholas (5 June 2025). "Podcast with Vappala Balachandran, author of "India and China At Odds in the Asian Century: A Diplomatic and Strategic History"". Asian Review of Books. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
- ↑ "Vappala Balachandran". Hurst Publishers. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
- ↑ Balachandran, Vappala (2023). "Profiles in intelligence: an interview with Vappala Balachandran". Intelligence and National Security. doi:10.1080/02684527.2023.2291863.
- 1 2 3 Ansari, Mubarak (26 July 2014). "Cops to get major weapon upgrade". Pune Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ Dikshit, Sandeep (18 December 2022). "Spies and the spycraft: Vappala Balachandran's 'Intelligence Over Centuries'". The Tribune India. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ↑ "Vappala Balachandran". Harper Collins Publishers India. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ↑ "Internal Security Threats & Sources of Instability in India and Pakistan". The Stimson Center. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
- ↑ "Lessons from Mumbai". The Hindu. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "7th Annual Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit Begins November 9th". Hawaii Reporter. 6 November 2009. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024.
- ↑ Balachandran, Vappala (11 October 2010). "Dealing with the aftermath of attacks" (PDF). St Antony's College, Oxford. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ↑ Mitter, Rana (22 June 2013). "China Growth, Free Speech in India, Disability and the Arts". Night Waves. BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ↑ "Police & State". The Sunday Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ↑ "V. Balachandran". The Asian Age. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ↑ "Vappala Balachandran". The Billion Press. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
- ↑ Raghavan, V.R. (7 July 2014). "Intelligence: more failures than successes". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 July 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ↑ Sen, Mamta Chitnis (15 March 2014). "'Police need to adopt scientific probe methods'" (Press release). The Sunday Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ "Charting 3 decades of terror intelligence coordination failure". The Times of India. Times News Network. 13 March 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ↑ Mukherji, Saradindu (8 April 2017). "Behind the Spotlight". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ↑ Ahmad, Omair; Balachandran, Vappala (27 March 2017). "Interview: Uncovering the Remarkable Life of A.C.N. Nambiar". The Wire. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ↑ Singh, Prakash (29 July 2017). "State of the Union". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.