India - Security - Part I
Nowadays, national security seems to be a buzzword people throw around arbitrarily. However in reality it is not at all a laughing matter. For a large and diverse country like ours, it is of paramount significance that we make our country secure for the welfare and growth of our people and our economy. Without that, all our aspirations towards superpower status will come up against an unassailable wall.
To begin with, let’s consider the unique situation faced by India. We have Pakistan and China as our primary neighbours. And even someone living under a rock in the desert would have heard by now that we don’t really make a happy family. We are constantly at war with both, mostly covert but at times overt too. Then there’s Bangladesh, who owes its creation to us, but seems to take pleasure in humiliating us at every foreseeable opportunity. We have an ambiguous relationship with Nepal, Bhutan and Burma whose details I do not quite understand. On the southern side we have the water and Sri Lanka where we have bloodied our nose once. So it is fair to conclude that we are not exactly living in the Sea of Tranquillity as far as the external factors go.
Now let’s look inwards. Things get even more interesting here. The North is highlighted by the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir which is probably one thing about us the whole world has heard of. Then we travel to the North East where even Google maps recently had Indian Territory with names in Chinese script. Wonder why that might be. The word ‘disputed’ comes to mind again. And then we of course have a plethora of states with different languages, cultures, food habits and lifestyles. I have lost count of how many as we keep adding a few every so often. If that were not enough diversity, we have multiple religions and castes. In short we have segregated our people in as many ways as possible. And it is amidst this diversity that we seek our democracy and unity. One does not need an analyst to tell you that it is not a very simple problem to deal with.
So it is this complex situation that needs to be addressed when one talks about national security. To start, let’s break it up into slightly more manageable pieces.
To begin with, let’s consider the unique situation faced by India. We have Pakistan and China as our primary neighbours. And even someone living under a rock in the desert would have heard by now that we don’t really make a happy family. We are constantly at war with both, mostly covert but at times overt too. Then there’s Bangladesh, who owes its creation to us, but seems to take pleasure in humiliating us at every foreseeable opportunity. We have an ambiguous relationship with Nepal, Bhutan and Burma whose details I do not quite understand. On the southern side we have the water and Sri Lanka where we have bloodied our nose once. So it is fair to conclude that we are not exactly living in the Sea of Tranquillity as far as the external factors go.
Now let’s look inwards. Things get even more interesting here. The North is highlighted by the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir which is probably one thing about us the whole world has heard of. Then we travel to the North East where even Google maps recently had Indian Territory with names in Chinese script. Wonder why that might be. The word ‘disputed’ comes to mind again. And then we of course have a plethora of states with different languages, cultures, food habits and lifestyles. I have lost count of how many as we keep adding a few every so often. If that were not enough diversity, we have multiple religions and castes. In short we have segregated our people in as many ways as possible. And it is amidst this diversity that we seek our democracy and unity. One does not need an analyst to tell you that it is not a very simple problem to deal with.
So it is this complex situation that needs to be addressed when one talks about national security. To start, let’s break it up into slightly more manageable pieces.
To be continued…
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