Sample Essay:Threats To National Security In Coming Decade

Newspaper, Date: 1/11/2020

Headline1:”Terrorists looted Nuclear weapons from Pakistan’s army”; Headline2:”Cyber Attack destroyed Indian Information and Technology Industry”; Headline3:”Thousands of Villages in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh submerged due to high water level in Ganga”;Headline4:”Haryana Police seized  arms and drugs worth rupees five thousands crores”.

All these headlines somehow present the persistent threats to Indian National Security and their continued challenges in coming years. National security as a concept has always been at the core of Indian policy making but it has been rightly argued that government has till now taken a compartmentalised view of national security. For example: Internal security, External Security, Different mechanism is adopted to deal with Pakistan and China, Food Security, Energy Security, Drugs, Communal riots, Cyber crime,  and other threats have been seen as different issues but now the time has arrived to look all these in a integrated manner. Because with technological innovations and increasing complexities in various spheres of human life, all these security concerns seems to be cause and product of each other. These threats are evolving with passage of time and have been spreading their wings to domestic as well as external boundaries.

Threats to national security have been major concern even before India started becoming Nation. Historically if we see, it was mainly limited to securing the territorial boundary of state. For example: During ancient or medieval time during different empires like Gupta, Maratha or Mughals etc. Kautilya in Arthasastra has also given prime importance to securing territorial boundaries by all means.

It got a new perspective after Industrial revolution when colonialism and Imperialism started becoming a reality and western countries particularly Britain colonised India and may other Asian-African countries. It challenged each and every aspect of Nation’s sovereignty. The exploitative nature of these countries gave rise to issues such as poverty, dissatisfaction among indigenous people, inequality which further gave rise to many internal security challenges and India is still suffering from communal tensions due to the “Divide and Rule policy” of Britishers.

After Independence the major threat to national security was poverty, Food insecurity, Underdevelopment, Communal riots etc which was not only challenging the nation building effort but also the external frontier due to more focus on internal problems  which India saw in forms of 1962,1965 and 1971 wars. Any country needs to spend so much economic, human resources to tackle regular internal security challenges that it ultimately not only affect social, economic and political stability of the nation but also weaken its external frontiers.

All of the threats have reflections in contemporary times and seeing the progress and preparedness of the country, it seems that they will have bearing in coming future too. But India in spite of being the fastest emerging economy of the world, with second largest population, largest demographic dividend, promoter of human rights and world peace is yet to find its real place in the world. Though India is moving with a good pace, strengthening its political, economic, diplomatic and technological power in world but still face various challenges. So it is necessary to point out some major challenges which are not only threatening now but will be major factors in coming decades also.

As per various surveys and India’s current rate of population growth, it has been predicted that it will surpass China by 2050. India having only around 2 percent of world land cannot be able to feed our population. It also causes energy insecurity in the country as we are dependent on our imports for this purpose and world has already witnessed various wars between different countries for energy needs. Both of these directly affects environment. Many of the Indian cities with large population and energy demands are already listed in world’s most polluted places(for example Delhi, Kanpur etc) which again results in sickness and mental issues leading to conflicts disturbing economic and social status of the individual and society. India is already facing water crisis which creates conflict not only within the country (Kaveri river issue – recent agitation in Karnatka leading to law and order issues and giving rise to hatred among people of TamilNadu and karnatka which may result into regionalism/linguistic problems. It finally endanger nation unity and integrity, Krishna river issue) but also impact India’s relation with other neighbouring countries like China, Pakistan. It has been rightly predicted that the third world war may be fought for water. Health hazards could also be a major threat to country if spending is not increased on health infrastructure.   

The other major threat is result of technologic revolution in the 20^th century which has already started deciding the Peace and security of not only India but the whole world i.e. “Cyber Attacks”. It is threatening the internal structures through various mechanisms such as identity theft, exploitation of women and children on internet, hacking of government websites (for example- recently National Green Tribunal website was hacked), Pornography etc. Along with that since most of the government and private infrastructure, process, banking etc are getting digitised it possesses a great challenge to secure them. Incidents like WIKI leaks, cyber crimes leading to financial malpractices like compromising bank accounts cause billions of dollor loss to individuals. For example recently in India, hacking of lakhs of State bank of India and other bank’s ATMs.

Cyber space has become very wide and our dependency on it is also increasing day by day. With government initiatives like Digital India, Government Process Re-engineering and technological innovations like Cloud computing, most of the public and private data are now stored on various networks. Any malpractice with them can lead to loss of important data, privacy. In this age of knowledge economy any deliberate attempt to play with data can lead to conflicts between various countries. For example email leaks of various nation heads, data theft of oil companies etc.

Further one major threat which is global in nature is climate change. The challenge of balancing development with environment is becoming huge inspite of national (Clean cess, solar energy) and global efforts (Paris Pact etc).IT is well established fact that climate change is going to impact the developing and poor countries the most. India has large population below poverty line which demands sustained development in the country and at the same time has a large coastline. The effects of climate change are already visible with erratic monsoon pattern, increasing sea water level etc. Though India has always shown leadership in this regard for example recently India accepted a huge INDC target but it need to put its agenda with other poor and developing nations more strongly in front of developed nation particularly USA and European countries.   

The most serious threat to internal security to India is communalism and naxalism. Ex. Prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh categorised Naxalism as the biggest threat. Though the problems seems to be declined in recent years but it may further arise as the major growth and development works need to end this problem has not yet been fully implemented. Increasing transnational crimes and organised crimes and their support to Maoists for mutual gains can compound the problem to a higher degree. The problem may further become more serious with any damage in India’s bilateral relation with neighbouring countries like China or Nepal (recent Madheshi issues in Nepal and China’s continuous effort to align Nepal to its side may create issues)

India is historically known as ‘the Land of religions’ and promoter of world peace. But communal harmony has got a setback due to various reasons (vote bank politics, inappropriate use of social media by anti social agents to disturb peace etc) in recent past. Recent incidents like Burning of Indian Flag, Anti India slogans, Dadri lynching and repeated small/big riots in country challenges the basic premise of our constitution. Radical organisation in the country as well as outside the country (ASIQ, ISIS, LeT, SIMI, Hindu organisations etc) are trying to make use of misunderstanding and disturb the country. But thanks to our age old mature civilisation that they have not been successful in their efforts.

The other major threats to National security includes terrorism, drugs trafficking, circulation of fake currency. Geographically India lies between two major areas which are historically infamous for drug trafficking i.e. Afghanistan on western side and Golden triangle (Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand) on the eastern side. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle went up by 22 per cent in 2013. This registered a 26 per cent rise from 2012 in opium cultivation.  Drugs cause not only health issue but destroy financial status of the country. It is again supported by organised criminal and transnational crimes. It may further be compounded due to changing habits and with improving financial status.

Terrorism which has redefined the global order is also one of the biggest challenges to India. The Mumbai bomb blast of 1993, Attack of 2008 and recent attack on Pathankot Air force station is still afresh in people’s mind. Pakistan’s state policy of promoting terrorism in India does not seem to be stopped in near future. Their influence on young but poor people as well as radicalisation of even highly educated Indians (IT engineers, Medical practioners and others) through social media and other means can weaken our strong social fabric. On the top of that the required measures to check these have not been adopted yet. National Counter terrorism centre (NCTC) which was designed post Mumbai attacks for better coordination among different states (As police is state subject) is still a distant dream. IT policy for better regulation of social media has not been designed. Police reforms are still lying on papers. India also has a large coastline. Mumbai Attack of 2008 clearly signifies the importance of sea lane security.  

Circulation of fake currency in the country can break the backbone of Indian economy. It is further compounded by black money earned through corruption. Corruption (2G scam, Coal Scam, Commonwealth game scam) in India has taken a systematic form and the parallel economy created due to these problems translates into other security challenges. Though government in recent past has taken various steps to check it like RTI, Income declaration scheme, Benami property Act etc but only stringent implementation of these acts can bring changes which are also not visible. Elections are considered to be the root cause of corruption as it requires huge funding. So electoral reforms, reforms in bureaucracy is required. But as Status Quo is one of the features to maintain power, it also doesn’t seem to happen in near future. Along with that the declining institutional capacity and unethical political practices (criminalisation of politics and politicisation of criminals, crony-capitalism) shows it as major threat to national security.   
   

Territorially if we see then China and Pakistan are major threats. The continuing border dispute and China’s emergence as greater economic power shows that in near future it may not engage in direct war but it would try to curtail the strategic clout of India in Asia-Led-World order. Its project One Belt one Road, policy of string of pearls and proactive approach in engaging neighbouring countries shows that in near future, china could be a greater challenge.

Pakistan being a nuclear state and failed democracy is always a challenge to India. They have recently developed tactical nuclear warheads but presence of large number of terrorist groups in its territory not only threatens India but itself also. Though Pakistan is nowhere near to India’s might in any sphere (specially armed forces) but in case if these weapons of mass destruction are taken by terrorist groups, it may disturb the whole world order primarily India. For example: Terrorists were successful in attacking Pakistan’s major air force base. India’s continuous effort to bring a comprehensive framework against terrorism in United Nation is still not fructified due to vested interest of major powerful countries.

Apart from these Asian Challenges, developed nation as a whole also posseses indirect threats to Indian security concerns. Vested interests led policies of USA and other western countries has disrupted the peace of Gulf region which have endangered the India’s energy prospects and threaten the security of Indian diasporas.

Along with that their biased approach in global organizations and trade regimes also threatens India’s interest along with third world countries. Their bid to avoid Doha agenda in recent WTO –Nairobi talks and lack of interest in reforming global governance institutions (WB,IFC) shows that in coming decade India has to rethink strategy and need to come with full force to restrict the exploitative interests of developed nations. India ranks very low in Ease of doing business which is a major cause of low investment that leads to low job creation and thus our demographic dividend may turn into demographic disaster. Jobless young people are more prone to radicalized or move to wrong paths.

In coming decade India’s external threat will be more compounded due to continued Institutional incapacity of global institution. India’s domestic need of energy, place in global leadership requires the independent functioning of institutions and have a democratic representation. But due to power tussle between major powers and bilateral rivalry has reduced the pace of reform process of UNSC,WB,IMF, NSG (challenging our nuclear  energy needs) and India is still struggling for permanent seat in coming decade too, if efforts are not taken.

It becomes more problematic when there is large presence of illiteracy and unawareness. Certain section of society still live in old age, follow many superstitions and are not ready to accept scientifically proved new trend. Though society is legally and constitutionally equal but equality in real term is still a far dream. The societal divide becomes more problematic when other development dimension fails to fill the divide. Various social issues like child marriage, dowry, unnecessary spending on marriage and other functions (it is estimated that India’s marriage industry is of Rupees One lakh crores), low sex ratio, patriarchal mind set etc leads to huge divide in the society. But politicisation of castes is one of the major reasons why social problems are not easy to handle.  

India starts its journey of growth especially after 1991, but the growth could not translate into inclusive development. Our largest employment sector i.e. agriculture still suffering from erratic monsoon and other infrastructural issues thus causing livelihood issues for millions of farmers. Rising inequality, jobless growth, lower female workforce participation doesn’t only threaten present social sector needs but also endanger the dreams of demographic dividend.

Non-adherence to public values such as accountability, transparency, suggest that it concrete measures and reforms are not going to take place in near future , it may lead to unsatisfied public causing great instability in the country. Second administrative reform commission has suggested code of ethics including various public values and it need to be implemented soon.

Further incidences of misuse of various laws such as sedition law (arrest of cartoonist), crimes by government servants, delayed judicial reforms, legislative(hundreds of redundant laws) and executive reluctance due to political vote banks shows that if not tackled in coming decade, these would challenge adopted constitutional values. This underdevelopment along with political blame game has accentuated the life of Kashmir and country has witnessed a serious clash between army and civilians.

In this regard country’s preparedness requires a special mention. India is the largest arms importer and seeing the transforming security architecture (cyber) it is essential that India indigenise defence production (DRDO and other major research agency need more funding to meet international standards). New defence procurement policy, Rafael deal have some aspects of it. But if government seriously don’t focus on defence indigenisation then it would be a great threat.

Media Activism is also a major challenge as it has power to change people’s mind. It has been seen in last few years that how media ethics has been compromised to promote a biased agenda. Increasing viewership and declining faith in political leadership and bureaucracy is major reason for that.  

India’s budget allocation on major fronts like Health (USA 16%, China 6% but India approax 2% of GDP), Education, Scientific Research and development(1.6% GDP) are very low compared to many developed and developing countries. These need to be increased to tackle various social and economic issues of the country which threatens national security.

As stated before National security needs an integrated approach and requires to be given highest priority even above Fundamental rights like Right to free speech and expression should   for collective goods. Various institutions in the country need to be reformed and there must be collaboration between them. Media, civil society organisations can be used to promote awareness among the people.

Though we have several challenges but India has time to time proved its capacity to handle such challenges. India’s unity and integrity is result of years of struggle and hard work. We require to inculcate the feeling of Indian among all of us before being an Individual.