UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS – India needs the anchor of a national security strategy
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: The Hindu
• Prelims: National Defence Strategy, Article 370, Protectionism, liberalization, WTO, GATT etc
• Mains GS Paper III: Government planning, mobilization of resources, LPG reforms, protectionism etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• Chief of Defence Staff (CDS): The absence of a written National Security Strategy (NSS) doesn’t mean that the country doesn’t have one,
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
National Security Strategy(NSS):
• Document that outlines the country’s security objectives and the ways to be adopted to achieve these.
• An NSS should consider traditional (affect only the state) and non-traditional threats(affect the state, individual and the entirety of humanity).
• It must work within the framework of India’s Constitution and democratic principles.
• The strategy often includes assessments of potential threats, resource allocation, diplomatic and military actions, and policies related to intelligence, defense, and other security-related areas.
#### Strategic risks:
#### ● The world is throwing up a slew of strategic risks, from climate change to pandemics, which require decades of coordinated policy effort to address.
#### ● China represents an unprecedented array of interconnected challenges, from an explosive naval build-up, to geoeconomic clout in South Asia, to leverage in global supply chains.
#### ● Distant conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza, are revealing new technologies and tactics of war that will invariably spread to India’s neighborhood.
#### Benefits of NSS:
• It would force the government to undertake a comprehensive strategic assessment A review of the country’s threats and opportunities, and a stocktake of global security trends. Periodic review would force India to spotlight evolving challenges such as the growth of the Chinese navy, even though it does not pose an urgent and lethal threat today.
• A review of the country’s threats and opportunities, and a stocktake of global security trends.
• Periodic review would force India to spotlight evolving challenges
• such as the growth of the Chinese navy, even though it does not pose an urgent and lethal threat today.
• NSS would provide a coherent framework for long-term planning.
• An NSS, done rigorously, would give the government an overarching strategic blueprint to adjudicate for example, between the Indian Navy demanding a new aircraft carrier, or the Indian Army seeking to raise a new infantry division. In the absence of such a process, scarce resources may get wasted on vanity projects with comparatively little strategic value.
• for example, between the Indian Navy demanding a new aircraft carrier, or the Indian Army seeking to raise a new infantry division.
• In the absence of such a process, scarce resources may get wasted on vanity projects with comparatively little strategic value.
• NSS would provide an instrument for signaling to friend and foe alike. It would help to clarify India’s strategic intent For example, India takes seriously its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean so that it will counter armed coercion against other, smaller countries.
• It would help to clarify India’s strategic intent
• For example, India takes seriously its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean
• so that it will counter armed coercion against other, smaller countries.
• NSS would clarify India’s policy for its partners, highlighting areas of converging interests, or explaining the limits on cooperation to help mitigate instances of mismatched expectations.
• NSS would create a mechanism to force various arms of the government to synchronize their efforts.
• Within the military, an NSS would give the Integrated Defence Staff and future joint organizations a clearer top-down mandate to better align the work of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy.
• NSS would provide common goals and plans so that various national security agencies including the Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, and Home Affairs, and the intelligence agencies They could better coordinate daily at the working level, rather than episodically at the Cabinet level.
• including the Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, and Home Affairs, and the intelligence agencies
• They could better coordinate daily at the working level, rather than episodically at the Cabinet level.
Way Forward
• Consider national security holistically, from first principles: India should not consider this reform or that relationship in a piecemeal, haphazard way It would risk wasting scarce resources and undermining national goals.
• It would risk wasting scarce resources and undermining national goals.
• India should, instead, commit to a new rubric for making these decisions — it should commit to writing a National Security Strategy (NSS).
• NSS would introduce a novel accountability tool, to ensure that the bureaucracy adheres to the political leadership’s intent, and that the government’s policies are as transparent as possible to Parliament and the people.
• The citizens of India have a legitimate need to know how their government is planning to safeguard their national security, and how well it is performing.
• A fully effective strategy should be a public document issued with the imprimatur of the Prime Minister It will synchronize efforts widely across government, and credibly signal the government’s political intent throughout the country and the world.
• It will synchronize efforts widely across government, and credibly signal the government’s political intent throughout the country and the world.
• A strong NSS would not automatically resolve conflicts between various arms of the government It should at least identify trade-offs and opportunity costs, so that political leaders can make rational decisions for long-term growth.
• It should at least identify trade-offs and opportunity costs, so that political leaders can make rational decisions for long-term growth.
• NSS would offer the intellectual scaffolding that is absolutely necessary for India to become one of the world’s leading powers.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
• The broader aims and objectives of WTO are to manage and promote international trade in the era of globalization. But the Doha round of negotiations seem doomed due to differences between the developed and the developing countries.” Discuss in the Indian perspective.(UPSC 2016)
(200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
Editorial Analysis – 26 June 2024 [PDF]