Why Katari wanted defence and finance inside naval planning

Katari divided the bureaucracy into self-styled experts, finance officials concerned primarily with savings, and a third group that contributed little to initial planning. Because ministry officials stayed outside the formulation stage, they could criticize proposals without understanding the professional, financial, and practical constraints that shaped them. Separate defence and finance reviews then forced plans through two parallel hierarchies whose officials held no responsibility for implementation. Katari proposed that service headquarters, defence officials, and finance officials formulate, approve, and execute plans together. Shared participation would expose constraints earlier and assign responsibility for the result, but the proposal was rejected and his motives were questioned. He nevertheless identified Defence Secretary H. M. Patel as an exception who assessed problems objectively. Concern about losing separate spheres of influence may help explain resistance to shared planning, although this remains an interpretation of officials' motives.