K. Subrahmanyam and the IDSA

K. Subrahmanyam, who passed away on 2 February 2011, has been hailed as one of India’s leading strategic thinkers. Having joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1950, his career graph turned out to be unique. He was one of those rare bureaucrats who came to be recognised more as a strategist than as a typical government official.

Subrahmanyam was associated with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) right from its inception in 1965. As its second director, he made a major contribution to its emergence as an autonomous think tank on strategic affairs. He nurtured several generations of scholars at the Institute. Even during the last few months of his life when he was in frail health, Subrahmanyam was a Distinguished Fellow at the IDSA and continued to mentor young scholars.