Indian Armed Forces' PR mechanism is sluggish. Information is warfare now

The Print

30-06-2025

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Armed Forces' 'wheels within wheels' PR machinery has consistently fallen short during crises, even when we held the initiative. From LoC to the LAC, Balakot to the Brahmos missile incident and Pulwama to Pahalgam, perceptions have often been shaped by adversaries exploiting an information vacuum—created more often than not, by our inability or unwillingness to dominate information space.
This highlights that warfare by information should not be seen just as a subcomponent of warfare but as warfare itself. Despite the global recognition of information warfare's criticality, the Indian Armed Forces seem to be struggling to even reach a reasonable level of information sharing, often confusing it with mere advertisement.
In an increasingly digital world, where conflicts are waged not just on battlefields but in the information space, the Indian Armed Forces face an urgent imperative to redefine their communication strategies. Historical examples like Mahabharata's ' Ashwathama hato hata …..' and recent global conflicts such as Russia- Ukraine and Israel-Hamas, clearly reflect what was famously written by Marshall McLuhan in Culture Is Our Business : 'While World War I & WW II were waged using armies and mobilized economies, WW III will be a guerrilla info war with no division between military & civilian participation.'
This allows the injection of disinformation and turns narratives against our great nation. Existing PR mechanism is sluggish and less effective due to the cumbersome 'elephantine' clearance process, low tolerance to mistakes, often sharing too little, too late and generally 'happy' chasing a narrative which is already in public domain. In stark contrast, adversaries operate with greater aggression, efficiency and agility.
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Dominating the narrative
The core principle in this battle of narratives is that the digital world rewards virality and has very little or no time for morality or veracity. The fight invariably is on whose story wins; therefore, OUR STORY MUST WIN, it's non-negotiable. This requires a deep understanding of narrative, space, information, and domination.
A narrative is defined as a coherent story influencing perceptions and shaping behaviour to achieve psychological dominance. It's the 'art of storytelling,' demanding a clear target audience and compelling content, even amid the challenges of information overload and disinformation.
Drawing from Sun Tzu's Art of War principle of subduing the enemy without fighting, influence operations must focus on dominating the cognitive space. A Whole of Nation (DIME) approach—integrating diplomatic, information, military, economic, social and diaspora elements—is vital for strategic communication, both domestically and internationally.
Information itself has become a weapon of mass disruption, distraction and deflection, serving as a breeding ground for misinformation and disinformation. Unknown, anonymous, well-informed keyboard warriors on both sides bombard the audience with competing messages and information, which is neither true nor factual.
Domination of information space is even more relevant in today's fast-moving battle of narratives. Social media, a weapon in plain sight, has exponentially amplified the reach of information, breaking down hierarchies and merging local, national, and international boundaries.
It allows alternate facts (fake news), rumours, photoshopped pictures and canards to go viral rapidly, capable of portraying victory as defeat and vice versa, rendering traditional notions of victory obsolete. Hence, this vital virtual ground cannot be ceded to the adversary at any cost.
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Strategies for countering disinformation
Effective perception management hinges on a clearly identified target audience and end state. Our intent has to be very clear because intent decides the content, content projects our intent and collectively they facilitate the desired connect with the target audience. This necessitates a sharp focus on the message, messenger and target audience. Recognising that advanced media or skillfully packaged information alone are insufficient without addressing the specific audience and information gaps.
The Armed Forces, while proficient in combat, must equally prioritise winning the perception war to prevent adversarial narratives from undermining public psyche and credibility. Therefore, narrative 'management' should be more crucial than the actual act.
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Integrated and proactive communication
A critical need is to integrate all mediums—print, electronic and cyber —under a unified platform to align political-military aims with credible messaging. This calls for a common Tri-Services Information Warfare (IW)/PR organisation under the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), replacing the current fragmented structure of multiple information-sharing agencies. The proposed organisation would feature tri-services verticals of IW, Cyber & Electronic Warfare and Strategic Communication, with dedicated officers overseeing various aspects. The three services PROs must be completely delinked from the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR).
With a very vibrant IW Branch at the formation level, the current system of 25 Regional PROs needs to be revisited, preferably done away with. In any case, PROs cannot even share basic information with the Press without clearance from Service HQs. Designated spokespersons (Brigadier/Colonel) at Formation Headquarters to swiftly disseminate initial '5 Ws & 1 H' (Who, What, When, Where, Why & How) on social media, followed by detailed press releases, is strongly recommended. The guiding principles for media engagement should be ABC: Answer, Convey, Bridge and CCD: Confident, Credible, Direct.
Furthermore, the strategy emphasises generating high-quality, transparent and concise communication with strong visual content for emotional engagement. Continuous monitoring of social media for fact-checking and filling information vacuum with speed, credibility, and accuracy is crucial.
The present approach toward information sharing is often ad hoc with no clear end state in mind, driven in isolation by individual media management initiatives and jumping from crisis to crisis. Employment of specialists and academic researchers as part of a military-private partnership in centres of excellence for long-term influence operations, including environment scanning and narrative development, is also recommended.
Therefore, collaboration and corroboration among counter-terrorist operation stakeholders are deemed a strategic necessity. Prompt information sharing prevents impatience and frustration, while 'half-baked information' can be detrimental to national/organisational interests. Hence, proactive damage control, exposing adversaries and preemption through joint rapid response teams for fact-checking are vital to amplify positive narratives.
As Yuval Harari states, 'The power of humanity lies in the capacity to tell great stories: it is the ability of humans to think imaginatively, to fictionalize, weave & tell stories effectively that makes Homo sapiens superior to other species. It is a belief in different stories of religion, history, civilization and cultural notions, laws & rights as also systems of governance that have spawned conflict. Hence, info flow shapes questions of war and peace.'
In conclusion, the outdated Defence Technical Publicity Rules (DTPR) of 2004 demand a new communication strategy for the Indian Armed Forces to convey, control and ensure 'our story to win.' Overcoming the 'sound byte problem' by adopting 'Tell it all, tell it early, tell it yourself' is paramount. The era of chasing narratives is over; being proactive rather than reactive is the imperative for navigating the complexities of modern information warfare.
Col Rajesh Kalia (Retd) was the media coordinator for the historic Siachen trek for civilians in 2007. He has served as the Defence Spokesperson in the North East covering MoD-related events in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur & Meghalaya. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)