Indian Defense Policy

I had always thought that studying the Indian defense policy would be great but the reference books brought out the picture of a defense policy in shambles. If we try to point out that the whatever the policy is, is dismal, there has to be some policy to start with.

For the first 15 years after independence India had no tactical activity at all and as a result, no defense policy outline. India’s first Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Neharu had a weird logic of his own. Pakistan according to him was a manageable threat and as of China, China and India were both age old civilizations with friendship dating back centuries! He saw no reason for China to attack India. It might be due to the influence of Buddhism or even the Bhakti movement and the likes of it that there was a considerable lack of strategic thought in the Indian culture. The art of warfare was never given the attention and the dignity it truly deserves. The Neharu regime kept up this tradition in its wishful neglect of the military institutions. It was only after 1962 that India began to think seriously about its defense.

For about four decades our focus had been the conventional defense that emphasizes increasing the number of troops and weapons. But to defend ourselves successfully from changing nature of threats, we needed to change our thinking and develop non conventional capabilities. However if we look at India’s defense preparedness, we can say that India has been reactive to the issues that have faced it rather than anticipating and preparing for a crisis. The Indian establishment has been caught on the defensive by terrorism insurgency and the like issues and it has always taken a longer time to meet the challenges. India needs to develop its capabilities in non conventional capabilities

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