Guest Column | Big Leap Forward

Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (retd)

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, New Delhi, on Independence Day on 15 August 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spelt out his vision for a ‘New India’. “Naya Bharat ek saksham, surakshit aur shaktishali desh hoga” (New India will be a capable, secure and a mighty nation), he had said.

There is a universal acceptance that India is a responsible, respected, regional power and a global leader. India will be the second largest economy by 2030 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. The next decade will also dictate the geostrategic and geopolitical equations for the rest of the century and hence, it is imperative that as a nation we assert our rightful place in the comity of nations and the emerging world order. The new geostrategic construct of Indo-Pacific and a fast-growing might of China are indicative of not a bipolar but a multipolar world with India as the ‘Balancing Power’.

To further our national interests and aim to transform India into a ‘modern, prosperous and secure nation’, India needs to consolidate its strengths as well as address certain weaknesses and structural infirmities. Defence is an integral component of our comprehensive national power and self-reliance in defence is imperative to ensure a secure India and retain our strategic autonomy. There are many defence and security strategists who say that there will be no wars. Yes, war is not an option but for ensuring continued and guaranteed peace, the two major contributors are ‘Defence Preparedness’ and ‘Operational Readiness’. Peace is ensured from a position of strength and not by demonstrated weaknesses. While the services do ensure operational readiness, however, it is the defence preparedness which is not in concert with the requisite capabilities and capacities of national security. Defence preparedness also implies self-reliance. The only way that can happen is to create a vibrant and vital defence industrial base duly integrating the private sector.

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India has the longest disputed borders in the world with 3,488 km India-China border wherein China claims over 110,000 sqkm of our territory. India also shares a not-so-peaceful 772-km long Line of Control (LC) and a 126-km long Actual Ground Position Line with Pakistan. Pakistan continues to wage a proxy war for over three decades now. The aim is not to amplify the many security challenges both external and internal, suffice it to say that India faces a full spectrum of conflict from small wars, unconventional wars, terrorism, hybrid wars to conventional and nuclear wars, and even street wars now if these can be so termed. New age war will be multi-domain waged in many battle spaces simultaneously, hence India and the armed forces must be not only present relevant but also future ready.

The lack of a defence industrial base is a major concern and needs urgent intervention and attention. The vice chief of the army staff recently had also raised similar concerns saying that even Pakistan has a much better and a well-developed defence indus