This is edited version of a write up given to Asian Affairs, UK
[Universal access to nutrition, healthcare, education, gainful employment and secure social spaces, as well as freedom to articulate powerful ideas for building institutional capacities in this direction, are vehicles for securing India’s military-defence capacities and economic prowess]
In the first week of
December, I was invited at a short notice to address a small group of academics,
students, professionals, politicians and journalists at India International
Centre, New Delhi. The issue was ongoing impasse on the academic campuses in
the national capital. I was specifically asked to speak from the perspective of
national security.
I argued that a strategic
vision of national security must focus on building high quality R&D and
larger social harmony, alongside universal access to education, healthcare and gainful
employment. War waging capacity or military security is no doubt the most direct
and non-negotiable component of national security but in absence of a larger favourable
ecosystem, even such capacity, along
with the rest of the variables like economic development, could erode. I also
emphasized that a state like India needed strong capacity to contain irregular
wars and conflicts within its own territory with minimum use of force/resources
and negligible distress to citizens. This was not possible unless, the
state enjoyed absolute trust of its people.
As a former
Securocrat, fighting a court battle against alleged forgery and perjury by my
own former colleagues, I avoided response to persistent direct questions on
some of the politically contentious issues like Citizen Amendment Bill. I was
keen to avoid any politicization or partisan abuse of my views. Hence, I
maintained that I could speak on such subjects only in the closed doors with the
members of the government, if at all I was appraoched.
I was emphatic that a
stronger national security warranted high quality researches in the Universities
for technological excellence and innovation in socially relevant areas. Hence,
Vice Chancellors and Academic leaders needed to shun the colonial type
arrogance and reach out to students to find solutions of the ongoing impasse. These
institutions needed amiable and conducive ambience, free from anxiety and
insecurity. Undesirable elements, of course, needed to be segregated from
bonafide scholars.
I was urged by many
members of the audience to explain my views on national security at public
platforms on regular basis. I have always believed, practiced, spoken and
written that a stronger India requires a stronger national security and
governance capacity. It is critical not only for aspirations of 1.3 billion
Indians but also for a safer world for the entire humanity.
It is well known among
security establishments of the world that the idea of national security has
been expanding since the end of second world war. Ever since the then US
Navy Secretary James Forestall spelled out a vision of national security for
his country, during a hearing in the US Senate in August 1945, several others
have expanded the idea. Today, national security virtually encompasses all
dimensions of governance that make
up the larger military, economic, social and technological capacities.
Forestall had, for the first time, suggested a ‘wider and comprehensive
concept, going beyond military strength to include almost everything linked
with war-making potential or capacity of a state.’ These included industry,
mining, research & development, technological innovation, improvement in
quality of human resource and such other activities which also enhanced quality
of civilian and social life’.
Today, food, water, energy and
environment, apart from individual and social security, are components of
national security. Some experts have gone on to incorporate diplomatic
influence and soft power to security of sea-lanes and supply chain to security
of outer space as national security requirements. Virtually everything that
can optimise collective output and capacity of people to build an optimally
secure and congenial life comes under the broad ambit of national security.
In 2016, I had
attempted to suggest a national security strategy from Indian perspective in
the form of my NDC dissertation. I had captioned it: “..Governance as Bedrock of National
Security”. I had emphasized on the need to build an integrated framework of
effective institutions, that mutually reinforced each other. I had argued that
their structures and processes must push for individual and collective
excellence with a sustainable synergy between the two. I had also suggested
viable and cost-effective strategies to address conflicts like subversion,
radicalism, diffused & irregular wars including insurgency, terrorism,
cyber and propaganda wars etc that could cripple even the most formidable
states and societies in long-run. High quality institutions alone could
prevent, pre-empt and deter such conflicts.
With easier mass
access to disruptive and destructive technologies, rise of clandestine cliques
and networks and loosening grip of existing democratic governance institutions,
both governance and security apparatus in democracies needed re-orientation. They must move
to the next higher stage to foster larger collaboration among different
entities of state and society. This is indispensable for sustained progressive
evolution of democratic societies in the technology driven globalized world.
I had emphasized in my research work, and maintained during my interaction, that high
quality population, equipped with good physical capacity, cognitive and
technical skills as well as values like integrity and courage constituted the
base of a strong national security pyramid. It is clinically proven that only in a wider
ambience of social trust and integrity, good leadership and good democratic institutions
can flourish. If excellence requires larger process of competition and
collaboration, alongside containment of conflict, the strategic focus of
governance and national security must be on building good individuals and vibrant
societies.
To drive home the
point that welfare state is not charity, I must quote Austrian Welfare state
expert Marin Bernd as well as German and Danish academics namely Herbert
Obinger and Klaus Peterson. They have presented extensive and credible data to
argue that it were military Generals who
pushed for welfare state in Europe. With rise of mass warfare and universal
conscription, they were concerned at deficient pool of population from which the
soldiers had to be recruited. Large components of military recruits in Europe were
often found to be unfit for military service. Bernd has quoted these figures at
51% for Switzerland (1878), 54% for
Germany (1873) and up to 70% for Austro Hungarian empire (1912). Even during second World War, he has argued
that “50% of US industrial workers and 40% of Japan’s army draft were
unserviceable.”
Until late 19th
Century or even early 20th Century, Europe was known for
deficiencies in education of children, adolescent and young male population,
high infant mortality or child birth mortality of mothers, rampant diseases like tuberculosis
etc. Even during the first world war, a write-up in the Journal of
Contemporary History (Sage Publications, Ltd. Vol. 15,
No. 2 Apr., 1980) has chronicled the growing sentiment in favour of
‘nourishing the new generation of children
as tomorrow’s Imperial Army’. It quotes the then British Prime Minister
David Lloyd George, in a speech at Manchester in 1917 that “A grade empires
cannot be manned by C grade population.”
Hence, universal
access to nutrition, healthcare, education and gainful employment for the
entire population as well as innovation of ideas and institutions for such
purposes, must not be left on the altruistic discretion of a few. These are powerful
vehicles for securing whole gamut of national security objectives, including “defence
capabilities and military-economic strengths.”
A strategic national
security vision of India must push for building high quality manpower and high-quality
leaders in each and every sector. It would require a well thought out restructuring
of governance institutions, skirting the emotive issue of identity. People are
least likely to act rationally when their identity appears challenged. Hence, public debates and discourses require
simultaneous confidential engagements among stakeholders, lest the dream of
resurrection of civilizational state of India is shattered forever.
There will be
resistances from formidable self-serving cartels in India for any move in this
direction. They have traditionally blocked powerful ideas and talents from
coming in to public domain. Their clout appears intact even now as serious
governance reforms for genuinely strong and sustainable national security
architecture appear nowhere on the horizon.
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