The civil defence drills held across the country at the peak of the India-Pakistani hostilities were conducted in a “slapdash manner” and the government is now in the process of preparing guidelines that will be applicable across states in similar eventuality, an official circular has said.
The internal circular, issued by the directorate general, civil defence, fire services and home guards (DGFSCDHG) June 26, noted that there are no standard guidelines available for such exercises and the “existing ones were old, vintage and needed immediate review”.
The DGFSCDHG, under the Union home ministry, is the nodal body responsible for carrying out drills across the country.
“Civil defence exercises — Operation Abhyaas and Operation Shield — were carried out and it is observed that standard guidelines for conduct of civil defence exercises are not available and states were doing the exercise in a slapdash manner. Therefore, preparation of standard guidelines for conduct of civil defence exercises are required,” the note, seen by HT, said.
The drills were carried out on May 7 and June 30 to check for preparedness and identify the gaps. The drills were focused on the eventuality of an air raid by the enemy using drones, aircraft and missiles in border villages and cities. Such an exercise was carried out for the first time at least two decades, with the installation of air sirens on high rises in cities like Delhi to alert citizens about the air raids and blackouts were observed across cities.
The agency has now issued directions to recruit three experts who can prepare a draft of a civil defence manual that will be applicable across the country, within six months, the circular said.
{{/usCountry}}The agency has now issued directions to recruit three experts who can prepare a draft of a civil defence manual that will be applicable across the country, within six months, the circular said.
{{/usCountry}}“There was no uniformity in the civil defence response. States held the drills based on what they thought was relevant and was always being done all these years. Despite giving specific scenarios of a terror attack, there were states that held a drill for a disaster such as a fire incident or a hijack. In most states, barring the border states, air raid sirens were not even available. There should also be different types of sirens — that indicate different levels of emergency (air raid related) and the different measures that citizens had to follow,” an official, who asked not to be named, said.
The official said that some sirens bought by states were those used by residents as alarms for water tankers.
“The nature of the threat has changed, as we saw during Operation Sindoor. Drone attacks from the enemy were targeted not just in military areas but also civilian residential areas. The hotlines that should have been working were non-functional. There were no telephone lines in some places too. So, there has to be one uniform process that all states will follow in the case of such an eventuality,” the officer added.
Pakistan launched thousands of militarised drones between May 8 and 11 to target civilian population and military installations in response to India’s Operation Sindoor.
A May 27 letter from the DGFSCDHG additional director general (civil defence) to chief secretaries of different states confirmed the authorities had found loopholes during the process. The letter said: “During the first civil defence exercise held on May 7, 2025, critical gaps in the civil defence preparedness of the vulnerable areas of the country were observed.” The letter, however, did not highlight the nature of the gaps.
India currently has around 500,000 civil defence volunteers, who are roped in to assist the government agencies on the ground in times of emergency.
A second officer said that following the India-Pakistan military hostilities, the Centre and states are working to increase the numbers of the volunteers to around 1.5 million.
“The ministry of youth affairs and sports, and the states are holding different camps to get more volunteers enrolled. Within the next two or three months, the home ministry will conduct a review of the new count and the steps to be taken,” the second officer said.