India has long cherished traditions of sound statecraft based on morality or “dharma”, therefore people of all faiths and followings have lived in this country in harmony and prospered for centuries. Hence, it is all the more important for India to continue to project an image of a healthy polity and good governance and not present a picture of scams, wrangling politicians and divisive politics. The political system should ensure stability of government whose tenure should not be subject to vagaries of coalition politics which often mean policy decisions by compromise. Perhaps, India needs to seriously examine the presidential form of government and desirability of reducing number of national political parties.
A structured system of command and decision-making in high echelons of government is an essential requirement of statecraft in modern times when crises tend to occur very rapidly, requiring equally rapid decisions, which also need to be well-considered and made with highly professional advice. India is one the few countries which does not have a structured mechanism for including the military in the policy planning process at the highest level.
the fast changing security scenario in “Af-Pak” region is posing newer and ever greater challenges to India. Taliban is on the march. It seems fully established in Swat and Malakand, and has secured an agreement with the Zardari government.
There is no mechanism or a standing committee where the PM meets the service chiefs on a regular basis There is a lot of turbulence in India’s neighbourhood and frequent crises situations within the country, so there is need for on-going (weekly or even daily) review at the highest level with heads of intelligence, homeland security, police as also service chiefs. Further, India does not have an overall “Chief of Defense Staff” who can render single point-integrated professional advice to government at critical policy deliberations.
This is a lacuna in the military system which has been allowed to exist through prejudice or misguided thinking. In the present system, this integrated tri-service advice is the province of a politician (Defense Minister) or a bureaucrat (Cabinet Secretary). Equally, there is need to streamline decision making procedures in all ministries to avoid surrender of unexpended allocations. India has in place a fine web of institutions ensuring checks and balances, but there should be a mechanism for updating and pruning old procedures to keep abreast of times.
To conclude, does India have national security? The answer is “yes”, though like the proverbial vicar’s quilt, it is only good in patches. Also, it has had its ups and down. India has fought off all Pak Army attempts to capture Kashmir, it has soundly defeated the Pak Army in East Pakistan and has held on to the Siachen Glacier. It has overcome the insurgency is Punjab. However, It has failed in Arunachal, ceding territory to China and it has not been able to resolve insurgency in Kashmir. Also, at present, India is being subjected to a spate of terrorist attacks, which the country seems to be unable to prevent or punish.
The vicious raid on Mumbai in Nov 2008 has brought to light serious gaps in the security, and worse, seeming inability of the country to retaliate. However, the government is vigorously reviewing the entire security structure and inter alia, has made enhanced allocations to defense in the recent “vote on account”. However, the fast changing security scenario in “Af-Pak” region is posing newer and ever greater challenges to India. Taliban is on the march. It seems fully established in Swat and Malakand, and has secured an agreement with the Zardari government. The fear is that it may be the beginning of Talibanization of the entire Pakistan, which will be bad for India and will adversely affect the situation in Kashmir. Indeed, there are troubled times ahead.
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