Indian Defence Strategies – Time to focus

Points highlighted by PM in Combined Commanders Conference lately has some points of concern with respect to national security.

India has to tackle to following challenges

• Defence acquisitions in light of economic slow down.
• There are changes in strategies followed by US and China in Asia Pacific region.
• Recent global crisis has made US gain more control on economies of Asia.
• There is a significant rise of China in terms of security and economic aspects.

The above issues require our armed forces to regulate strategies accordingly. We have to learn from the mistakes of the Russian and American arms race. Indian and Chinese are in similar situation like that of Russia and US before in terms of defence and arms.

What India has to do?

• Strengthen nuclear areas and second-strike capabilities (to withstand nuclear attacks)

• Concentrate on raising elite forces to undertake special operations that can be to strike on terrorist camps or protect national boundaries.

• Improve in-house technology drive by private sector as partners cutting down defence import bills like that of US – style military industrial complex (an understanding between the national armed forces and bureaucracies). The recent comments by former Army chief General V P Malik mentioning that “India has fractured the policy-making on national security matters and it is guided by bureaucrats who are totally unaware of defence matters” a serious concern at this point.

• Finally, in the era of globalization, it is very important to note that no security strategy can succeed without an appropriate foreign policy. Pakistan for than matter has maintained a good relationship with US and China to support its defence capabilities.

• But with the growing global terrorism and China military strength, its very a right time for India to cultivate a good cooperative understanding with US, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia.

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