Question

Essay on internal and external security in india

Answer 1

India faces four primary threats to its national security. Externally, its conflict with Pakistan is driven by competing geopolitical interests and bitter historical legacies. Since every future Indian Government will have to operate within those constraints, tensions over Kashmir will continue well into the future. The ruling parties will, at best, inform the intensity and shape of this hostility, but not its existence. Likewise, in spite of some tactical flexibility on both sides, the geopolitical ambitions of India and China remain fundamentally at odds, and recent policies confirm that New Delhi’s goals in the Indian Ocean Region transcend the domestic political divide between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (“Congress”).

Internally, India faces a number of secessionist and utopian movements, the most prominent of which are the Maoist Naxalites. A common theme underpins the insurgencies, as they are led by “true believers”, yet derive most of their support from those dissatisfied with poor governance and inferior socioeconomic conditions. So far, however, the responses of New Delhi and state governments alike indicate a misreading of the situation. Another key issue is a possible influx of Muslim migrants from Bangladesh. While this is predicated on the accuracy of current climate change projections, this scenario, if it unfolds, threatens to replicate historical intercommunal violence on an unprecedented scale, and will require close co-operation between the Indian and Bangladeshi Governments.