Weird to say the least. How can the author be so ignorant of meaning of 'civilian control’? It of course means control of the elected representatives and not civil bureaucrats. In no other democracy that I know of is the senior most civilian bureaucrat senior in position to the senior most officer of the Armed Forces except that in India. The UK MOD site and US DOD site may be seen to confirm this. In fact in western countries many of the top civil bureaucrats especially in military matters/ ministries have also sometime served in Armed Forces at one time. Yes in US there is a law that the ‘the top civil bureaucrats’ should not have served in Armed Forces in last 10 years. These laws are designed to have a well balanced set of civil and military advisors to the Defence minister. India is in a unique position that the Senior most civilian bureaucrat in MOD is positioned senior to the senior most officer of the Armed Forces. No wonder the end result is that the civilian advisors to the political leadership on military matters dominate the scene. It is structured that way.