India, the world’s most populous country, is a major economic and political power in South Asia. Known for its vast linguistic, cultural, and geographic diversity, India has a rich history that spans thousands of years, with deep-rooted traditions in philosophy, science, art, and religion. Its large population and vast history mark its economic and cultural importance.
While India’s civilization can be traced to the Harrapan era, that is, 1400 BCE, its modern political boundaries were established in 1947 when it gained independence from British rule. It is now a federal parliamentary democracy with 28 states and 8 union territories, with New Delhi as its capital. India has a democratic system with a multiparty political landscape, with the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party being the two dominant national parties.
As one of the fastest-growing major economies, India is a global hub for technology, manufacturing, and services, while also being an agrarian powerhouse. It is a nuclear-armed state and plays a key role in regional and global geopolitics, maintaining strategic partnerships with various nations.
India is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in the world, home to multiple religions, sects, castes, and tribes. It has more than ten-thousand languages and hundreds of regional dialects, with Hindi and English serving as the two of the 22 official languages. Despite economic progress, India faces challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and environmental concerns, alongside managing its complex social fabric and regional disparities.
NSA needs to take initiative to undertake the task to prepare a document.
For God sake and India’s sake, the last thing India needs is ANYTHING that is just like UK. No point copying a has been entity.
India has always believed that as long as there are black cats to protect VIPs, cops to lathi charge non VIPs and poverty ensures soldiers to be paid to die, India is secure.
Who says UK has “an honest national security document”? Any document that the Boris government produces is bound to be dishonest to the core and full of lies and distortions. Why should India follow such a fiction?
A National Security doctrine is a must.
The Indian polity is only 74 years old. The Nation has achieved much in these few years. But formulating a coherent strategy for internal and external security is not one of them. The mind set of the leaders then was India was safe from any aggression and a path of peace will resolve all irritant issues. We can forgive the leadership for the Pakistan action in Kashmir of 1948 as that state was not yet part of the Indian union then. Was that action handled well when we committed tom the defence of Kashmir is a moot question. Yet, post that action India should have realized the importance of a strong Military to become a strong Nation. It did not. It took a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962 to expose the vulnerability of the young Nation. I doubt whether the subsequent wars of 1965 and 1971 and the continued insurgencies in various parts of the country managed to convince the Government for a National Security Doctorine.
It was only in November 1998, the GOI appointed a NSA by giving the additional responsibility to the Principal Secretary to PM, Mr. Brajesh Misra. The appointment was refined by successive Governments and now we have a full fledged NSA with defined responsibilities and recently a CDS to coordinate Military strategy.
This is just the beginning of an effort. We are yet to see a National Security Doctrine or a visible consistent strategy not only against external aggressions and insurgencies but also in a global context.
Tail piece: The feeling is that we are even now reactive than proactive to threats, internal and external. Hopefully we will get a Security Doctrine and be proactive in our security efforts sooner than later.