INDIA: REFLECTIONS ON 80TH INDEPENDENCE DAY

An Impartial Reflection

     As we celebrate our Eightieth Independence Day and pay our respectful tribute to our freedom fighters, many of whom sacrificed their everything, including their lives at prime of their youth, we must also reflect upon our journey as a republic. 

    Independence from colonialism was an opportunity to renew, regenerate and regain our uniquely humanist civilisational identity, driven by values and ethos that had once catapulted us to the pinnacle of exceptional intellectual, scientific, material, cultural and spiritual advancement, long before foreign rule and colonial subjugation. Regeneration of eternal humanism, and contribution towards betterment of the world, was the promise that we had held not only to ourselves, as a nation, but to all those sections of humanity that had believed in us.   

     Our journey, as a republic, over the last eight decades is filled with such accomplishments that generate pride. Yet it is also marred with severe under performance and disappointments on several counts, especially given our promises and potentials. 

     This piece attempts a dispassionate and objective evaluation of journey of independent India only to offer a perspective towards better future for Indians and the world.   

Our Progress As a Unified Nation

    Our evolution as a unified and cohesive nation, given the conditions in which we gained independence in 1947, is an account of grit, determination and vision of the earliest architects of independent India. They proved all naysayers wrong who had doubted our ability to hold together as a nation, given our diversity and constraints. 

    We have survived horrors of partition, deprivations of poverty, unprovoked wars imposed by deceitful neighbours, protracted insurgencies backed by external forces, linguistic and religious tensions ignited by parochial forces, social upheavals and internal turmoil inflicted by overly ambitious politicians and authoritarian streaks of few elected leaders. We have often faltered on geopolitics and security due to prolonged disruption of scientific practices of statecraft during foreign rule. 

    Yet we have remained a stable democracy and a vibrant society. Governments have repeatedly changed hands through largely free, fair and peaceful elections. Unlike many post-colonial states, who have faced recurrent military coups, we have had a remarkable democratic continuity, despite enormity of our challenges. This is again a reflection of higher quotient of societal trust and altruism in society that had survived despite centuries of foreign rule. It is this strength that enabled us sustain democracy even under most adverse circumstances. 

Economic Transformation

    The economic transformation of post-independence India, despite severity of constraints and sub-optimal institutions, is testimony of resilience, innovation and adaptability of our people. From an almost a semi-primitive agrarian and state-controlled economy, we have evolved into a dynamic global economic hub.  With a roughly $4 trillion economy, growing at 7.6 percent in 2025 according to the World Bank, (India Development Update - April 2026: https://data.worldbank.org/country/india), we are one of the major drivers of global economic growth.  

    Our digital infrastructure, pharmaceutical manufacturing, formidable space programme, sustained information technology output, transformative automotive sector, surging financial technology prowess, clean energy, semi-conductor and AI initiatives and overall entrepreneurial ecosystem have given us a strong global heft. Yet we our overall performance remains suboptimal. We are one of the poorest countries in the world, in term of per capita income.  

    Nevertheless, success of Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1 and the continuing expansion of India’s space capabilities have demonstrated that Indian institutions can accomplish far more complex goals with sheer competence and commitment of our scientists driven by a stronger national purpose (Achievements of Department of Space - 2025).

    Similarly, achievements of our global diaspora reinforce our self -belief as a people. Most expatriate Indians are intelligent, prosperous and disproportionately influential and contributing to progress of several advanced economies with relatively transparent, efficient and equitable institutions. This only reinforces belief in strength of Indian way of life, characterized by family values and unqualified parental support to children. If we can build efficient institutions at home that can nurture and harness our human resource for national purpose, probably the quality and pace of our national advancement shall multiply manifold.

Uncomfortable Paradox:

   India after conclusion of first quarter of 21st century manifests a paradox of world-class excellence amidst an ocean of societal constraints and institutional mediocrity.

    National Family & Health Survey (NFHS)-6 has found that 29.3 percent of Indian children under five had stunted growth and 19 percent were underweight due to malnutrition. (National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) 2023-2024 Fact Sheets.pdf) Figures were 38 percent and 32 percent respectively 5 years back. Both the factors are known to cause severe impairment of physical strength and cognition capacity leading to sub-optimal productivity over life-time.

    Successive Annual Status of Education Reports continues to reveal serious deficits in foundational learning. Our workforce remains inadequately skilled. Similarly Economic Surveys have repeatedly highlighted the extraordinarily low proportion of Indians receiving formal vocational training.  

    Approximately 800 million Indians, accounting for over 60% of total population depend upon free ration for survival. 

    The most important resource of a nation is not land, minerals, metals and capital. But it is the quality of human resource and cohesion among them. This is what drives progress of a nation and advancement of a civilisation. While we are deficient in natural resources as well, given the size of our population, significant weakness in our overall quality of human resource, especially their skills and productive capacity and quality of cohesion, is seriously worrying.   

Unprofessional Generalist Bureaucracy?

    Our bureaucracy has many brilliant and incorruptible incumbents. Yet it appears substantially entitlement driven, unprofessional and rent-collecting behemoth, lacking uniform capacity and commitment to address transformational goals and priorities of the nation. But to be fair to spirited and visionary incumbents within civil service, institutional and societal ecosystem also do not provide a conducive environment for excellence, innovation and integrity.

    Citizens spend huge time and energy navigating bureaucratic hurdles for their day today existence. It is nearly impossible to get even birth and death certificates without bribes in most parts of the country. Victims of even most heinous crime struggle to register FIR with police if they cannot pay or lack connections. 

    Entrepreneurs struggle with routine permissions, regulatory uncertainty, litigation and informal transactions or underhand payments.  Bureaucratic institutions rarely encourage and support entrepreneurship with timely approvals and proper guidance. But illicit networks often appear to thrive right under the nose of regulatory institutions or at times in collusion with malicious elements within these. Innovators in critical areas of advanced technology or even national security encounter more administrative friction than cerebral challenges. 

  Simultaneously, upright and professional civil servants often discover that integrity pushes them more often on a lonely and risky trajectory. At times, these invite severe systemic wrath and even all-out hybrid warfare that is impossible for inadequately paid honest civil servants to withstand. 

    Instead of any quick fixes, we need a comprehensive restructuring of entire Indian civil service. I have outlined earlier that the current structures - where generalist paratroop at the top - makes our entire governance apparatus uncompetitive by substantially eliminating space for expertise and competition driven excellence. Besides, leadership has become more complex where a degree of technical expertise and continuity, alongside larger vision, appears indispensable for effective output. 

     We are living in a highly competitive world. Inefficient civil service can retard our comprehensive national output on various parameters of progress. A trimmed and efficacious civil service, where recruitments are based on combination of aptitude, skills and commitment shall re-energise governance. Similarly, if leadership roles are earned by performance- both on parameters of technical and leadership output- it may usher in a process of healthy competition, raising the levels of excellence

    Like judiciary, unnecessary frills and colonial privileges within bureaucracy also generate insecurity and entitlement among incumbents. Civil servants need to emerge as professionals and contributors of national power. 

    Ironically the current bureaucratic edifice has been inherited from a colonial government that did not trust local population and hence they positioned their own nationals at the top, even if they were not capable of addressing responsibilities. Later they opened doors for loyalists from local population as well. But the primary objective of colonial civil service remained ensuring State control over local population and stability of ruling machinery rather than wellbeing of the people. Post-independence Indian civil service has undoubtedly evolved. But far more is required to infuse professionalism, integrity, excellence and autonomy within its ranks to lend greater earnestness to our goals of accelerated national transformation. I have dealt with this issue in my earlier write ups and Indocracy interviews as well.     

Sluggish, Inconsistent and Inaccessible Criminal Justice System

    A sluggish, inconsistent and inaccessible criminal justice system, widely perceived to be substantially corrupt, has been choking our collective progress by breeding avoidable conflicts and frictions. I have written extensively on this issue in recent months and even earlier. There are many brilliant judges and fearless cops. Yet they appear inadequate in larger systemic encumbrances choking our justice delivery system. 

    The National Judicial Data Grid currently records more than 5.4 crore pending cases, including nearly 3.9 crore criminal cases (Judicial pendency in India | Data For India). The justice that arrives decades late, if not beyond lifetimes, and often skips less publicized cases, substantially loses its meaning, purpose and credibility. When people are exposed to chronic injustice, oppression and insecurity, where injustice appears a norm rather than exception, it may lead to persistent hyperactivation of the amygdala and stress pathways. These can produce long‑lasting epigenetic modifications in genes, negatively impacting psychological health, emotional stability and overall outlook to life. 

    Similarly, people getting away with breach of social trust and assault on society develop another sense of entitlement. Over time, these changes reshape neural circuitry for fear, anger, vigilance, anxiety, distrust, societal dishonesty, emotional imbalance and a variety of other disorders etc. Some of these neural disorders may get so deeply embedded that it may persist over generations. 

    I once again reiterate that judicial clogging and inconsistent justice can never be resolved raising the number of judges. I have recommended a very large number of concrete measures in my earlier write ups. These include de-colonisation of character of Indian judiciary to banning of practicing lawyers from turning judges, besides measures against cronyism in recruitment to higher judiciary by collegium method among others. Professional knowledge, skill, courage, integrity and mental resilience must be at the core of both recruitment, training and mental conditioning of judges at all levels. 

    Similarly, litigation process needs simplification. Perjury and frivolous or avoidable litigations deserve criminalization. Specialisation among litigation lawyers and transparent fee structures, defining number of hours required in each category of matters, shall prevent monopolization of courtroom victories and lucrative cases by few top lawyers. While false complaints of corruption against sitting judges must be severely punished but credible allegations and willful subversion of justice require an impartial investigation and deterrent punishment. 

    Indian state needs to consider withdrawal of constitutional immunity of judges up to the level of High Court. Supreme Court should rather have a Judicial accountability commission as a bench to continuously monitor conduct of 1000 plus Judges of 20 odd High Courts of the country. Such accountability will enhance the quality and speed of justice delivery system and substantially ease pressure on top court. Similar credible Internal Complaint Commission or Accountability Commission is required for district court judges at High Court. Constitutional immunity for judges should be restricted only up to Supreme Court. Voting in impeachment procedure should not be secret and no whip should be allowed in these. 

    Simultaneously, counter-intelligence agency should be allowed to keep entire judiciary under serious surveillance to guard them against such linkage or association that may undermine justice delivery system. There should be a standard laid down procedure on ways of reporting and quick disposal of improper professional conduct by judges at every level. Reporting of improprieties by judges of High courts should go to Supreme Court and similarly Supreme Court judges need to be reported to CJI. In case of anything suspicious coming to notice regarding CJI, the matter should be reported to President of India and if the findings are genuine, the concerned CJI must resign. If any incumbent of judiciary or Indian state is found to be genuinely involved in actions that amount active collaboration or passive approval in larger covert warfare against the nation or subversion of our democracy and national security or institutional integrity by external forces, all immunities should be waived the incumbent must be lawfully charged with waging war against the nation and awarded severest punishment within the quickest possible time. 

    Similarly, there should also be an impartial and financially independent oversight committee of retired judges of Supreme Court to monitor conduct of intelligence agencies and sensitive enforcement agencies. This will ensure that they act professionally and not for partisan agenda or personal gains. This is a standard practice in advanced democracies. But we should go a few steps ahead given systemic constraints and our overall challenges, to enhance efficacy of systems. 

    Needless to mention that judges at every level need to be paid well. Unnecessary frills and colonial style bungalows with army of personal staffs and fancy imported cars can only encourage financial insecurity in poorly paid judges along with a sense of entitlement.  

    Yet our country should never appear like an open jail where citizens live under fear, anxiety or stress. State must protect, help, inform, educate, nurture and correct people rather than investing its energies only in coercing people. Punishment is required only in cases of incorrigible offenders. Like doctors remove cells of cancer from human body, serious offenders need to be removed from society in most painless ways. But those who can be healed and corrected deserve empathetic approach from state and criminal justice system.    

    An effective judiciary has enormous capacity to unlock and unleash comprehensive potentials of a society. But efficacy of judiciary depends to a great extent upon quality of professionalism within enforcement agencies and overall integrity of political space and societal ecosystem. Nevertheless, despite constraints in these sectors, only an enlightened and spirited judiciary can spearhead transformation and renewal of national cohesion by exemplary judgments. Deterrent judgments can bring down number of crimes and litigations. But an inefficient and subverted judiciary can destroy even the most vibrant and thriving society. Besides, the syllabus of law colleges needs serious overhaul to improve the intellectual, professional and ethical quotient of law graduates. Besides tactical knowledge of law, they need to be trained in national security and social cohesion.

    A healthy and vibrant society and robust state is not the one where citizens are overwhelmingly discordant and squabbling to overburden the judiciary with avoidable litigations. Healthy and vibrant societies are those where police and courts are less burdened by crime and disputes to focus more on prevention of crimes and disputes to improve the quality of social trust and cohesion to unleash total potential of people.  Such a phenomenon shall reduce the need for large number of lawyers, thriving on conflict, litigation and misery of citizens. Investment of deeper and innovative wisdom from a variety of spheres can foster trust and collaboration in society.

  Corruption

    It has been universally acknowledged that corruption is a cancer that slowly kills a society. In independent India, corruption has been repeatedly described as an acceptable way of life for its elite and upwardly mobile masses. This is the single most factor responsible for underdevelopment of India, rampant poverty and poor public infrastructure. 

 — Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 (Berlin: Transparency International, 2025) has observed that public institutions are routinely undermined by rent-seeking behavior, where political and bureaucratic elites manipulate rules for private gain, eroding trust in governance. Transparency International’s 2025 index gives India 39/100 and ranks it 91st among 182 countries. (India - Transparency.org; Aug 14)) While the index is not a verdict on every Indian institution, yet it is a reminder that corruption remains rampant enough to cripple national capability. 

    Eminent Indian academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta has alleged in a write up that Judicial appointments and transfers often face allegations of favoritism and opaque decision-making, weakening the credibility of the justice system (The Crisis of Institutions in India,” Journal of Democracy 34, no. 2 (2023): 45–59.) A well-known Indian journal Caravan published a story few months back alleging serious corruption against none other than Chief Justice of India. Such a situation seriously dents public faith in judiciary.   

 Another credible academic R. Vaidyanathan, in his work Corruption and Development: The Indian Paradox (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2024) has observed "Large-scale public procurement and infrastructure projects are plagued by kickbacks and inflated contracts, draining resources meant for development." 

There are multiple credible researches that have outlined the enormity of corruption and its impact on institutions, governance and quality of development. Yet the damages inflicted by corruption are unfathomable. It shall not be an exaggeration to state that corruption appears deliberately fused not only in system but also psyche. But the same continues to drain massive resources of the nation at one level and undermine not only progress as a state and society but also peril our long-term survival and security in competitive and somewhat hostile world. It is beyond capacity of courts and police to dent the menace of corruption. India needs serious and comprehensive systemic restructuring for which its key stakeholders need to build a degree of consensus.   

Not So Robust Core of Economic Strength

    Despite impressive growth rate, India's economic strength, especially in the larger global context, appears fairly hollow at its core. Consumption-led growth appears driven more by trading, services and imports rather than serious industrial prowess or innovation. The World Bank has repeatedly underlined India’s meagre R&D expenditure- less than 1% of GDP- which dents its ability to generate breakthrough technologies and forces dependence on imports for critical sectors. The IMF has cautioned that structural imbalances — weak manufacturing depth, fragmented supply chains, and poor productivity growth — continue to undermine competitiveness. There are 

    Monopolies and duopolies dominate key industries, stifling enterprise and reducing serious competition to rituals. This clearly smacks of rigged regulatory mechanisms. India has 308 billionaires who control over 10% of national wealth. Given abject poverty of our masses, this is a worrying phenomenon for long-term economic stability of the nation. Indians outside India are known for innovation but innovation inside India thrives only in few isolated pockets. Systemic incentives for innovation and genuine industrial enterprise appears too deficient. As expanding market, we appear to lack enduring strength in form of robust ecosystem for innovation and diversified industrial capacity. This seriously impedes our aspiration for strategic autonomy and economic prowess commensurate with our size. The entire situation is an outcome of fragile institutions and overall deficient ecosystem.

Flight of Capital and Super-Skilled Human Resource

    Poor systems continue to expel a huge amount of capital and talent from the country. Henley Private Wealth Migration report estimated a net outflow of about 3,500 millionaires from India in 2025. (Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2025 | Henley & Partners). A degree of wealth and talent migration in a globalised world is unavoidable. But persistent and disproportionate outward migration of wealth and skilled human resource should provoke a harder question. This dangerously impacts the quality and pace of economic development. It is a clear indicator that citizens are not feeling secure, respected and institutionally rewarded within their homeland. 

World stands today at a critical inflection point. Frontier technologies like Artificial General Intelligence, CRISPR gene editing, quantum computing, semiconductors, green hydrogen, advanced biotechnology, space exploration, and next‑generation communications — technologies are redefining global power and prosperity. These no longer appear optional luxuries in competitive and inter-connected world. Rather these shall be pillars on which economic sovereignty, military security and cultural influence shall rest. Those who lag behind shall be condemned to dependency while leaders may set standards and control entire supply chains. India runs the serious risk of being reduced to strategic irrelevance. Our paradox is ironically too stark. Indian innovators and entrepreneurs thrive abroad, spearheading breakthroughs in Silicon Valley and biotech labs to financial hubs. But at home they more often face neglect, bureaucratic harassment, systemic discouragement, besides lesser financial incentives and difficult life emanating from poor public infrastructure and deficient security and criminal justice system among others.

 According to UNESCO Science Report (2021), Over 1 million high-end emigrant researchers and engineering graduates are from India (India | 2021 Science Report). Similarly, Elsevier Global Researcher Survey (2026) states that 52% of India‑based researchers have conveyed their intent to relocate abroad. This is the highest figure worldwide. Scanning of US National Science Foundation (NSF) data suggests that 25% of foreign STEM PhDs in the US are Indians and above 70%. of them never return to India. Even OECD figures have consistently ranked India among the top exporters of skilled migrants to advanced economies.

    A recent media report suggested that India's highly feted space organisation ISRO has been plagued by large scale resignations. Around 100–120 scientists have resigned from different ISRO centres, including UR Rao Satellite Centre (Bengaluru) and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (Thiruvananthapuram). These can negatively impact Gaganyaan (human spaceflight), SpaDeX (space docking experiment) and Chandrayaan‑3. A variety of factors have been cited and attributed for these. These include lack of creative freedom to oppressive hierarchies and bureaucratic roadblocks besides better opportunities and living conditions abroad. Even a parliamentary discussion in 2026 conceded that large numbers of IIT alumni migrate abroad for higher studies or employment. There are media reports that suggest that 60 to 70% of PhD scholars and over 30% of top engineering graduates from IITs/IISc eventually migrate from the country. Most discussions on brain drain appear superficial. 

Substantial Cartelisation and Criminalisation of Political Space

    India’s political discourse over the last few decades has become excessively rancorous. Rival political formations appear to condemn and curse each other for electoral victories rather than offering constructive perspective towards nation building and institutional reforms. Most public discussions on politics focus more on electoral wins and losses rather than governance issues.

    The 2014 electoral verdict in India appeared substantially a repudiation of the prevailing ways of governance. Accumulated legitimacy deficit of the UPA years, corruption scandals, policy paralysis and a widespread perception that the political system had become an entitlement machine had contributed to regime change. The current government has unquestionably pushed up India’s trajectory in infrastructure, digital governance, welfare delivery, financial inclusion, external positioning, strategic ambition and technological aspirations.   

    Yet the challenges of corruption appear to have multiplied. These seem increasingly systemic. Institutional-structural deficiencies have aggravated in many sectors. I have always maintained that it is impossible for courts and investigative agencies, on their own, to contain corruption within a tolerable threshold, even though these are needed and may be doing a good work in patches.  Spirited cartels appear to have captured several institutions for their own private agenda. Many institutions have witnessed serious erosion in their integrity and efficacy, even though loyal incumbents are often able to deliver on tactical priorities of the regime quite efficiently. This somehow obfuscates the larger reality. But overall strategic capacity of state institutions appears to be on decline. 

    Indians must appreciate that great leaders are temporary but good institutions are permanent. A powerful leader can accelerate progress of a state. But only institutions can sustain that acceleration.      

      Opaque political funding has perennially undermined the quality of our democracy. This challenge has continued to rise instead of waning. In one of the rare courageous judgments in recent years, the Supreme Court in 2024 struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme, describing it unconstitutional  (Supreme Court declares electoral bonds scheme unconstitutional - The Hindu). But more than anything, this issue exposes the sustained structural challenge of opaque and unrestrained political funding. Even though the Court held that non-disclosure of political contributions violated citizens’ right to information and struck down provisions permitting unlimited corporate contributions, one is not clear how much difference the judgment has made towards bringing transparency in political funding.

    It is unfortunate that this matter failed to attract any bipartisan or even public discourse. 

 On the other hand, we come across criticism that 'Leader of Opposition appears to believe that controlling India is his divine fundamental right.' Critics cite his actions and speeches that suggests that 'he appears aggrieved that this right to rule India has been illegitimately taken away' from him by the current Prime Minister.' All his criticisms of the government appear to more of personal nature, targeting the Prime Minister and incumbents of the government and their associates. But there is no credible perspective or vision for institutional and structural reforms to address these issues in general. While his criticisms of the government have been relevant on many issues and these have rightfully brought the Government under pressure, but the tone and approach appear way less than dignified, effective and even credible. Large sections of educated population, especially military veterans, nationalist intelligentsia and even sections of youth appear to view him with serious suspicion given his dynastic entitlement and a number of close associates. 

    If viewed from the prism of national security, almost entire political opposition of Indian fails to offer convincing escape from the current predicament or challenges gripping the political space of India. Most parties remain trapped in dynastic entitlement, patronage politics, personality cult, and negative mobilisation and corrupt politics, instead of offering a powerful perspective or vision for governance or serious institutional reform. Opposition parties appear too tactical in approach and focused only on removal of current government. Internal democracy, intellectual renewal and regeneration, culture of principled dissidence and discourse, driven by public good remain conspicuously weak in all political parties. Loyalty is always valued over integrity and intellect.  

The challenge becomes more serious given sustained criminalisation of political space. As per a Supreme Court’s August 2026 affidavit, 251 Lok Sabha MPs and 75 Rajya Sabha MPs face criminal charges. These involve 210 cases of serious offences punishable with five years or more. 14 of the 28 state chief ministers also face criminal charges and some of them face dozens of charges. There are presently over 4,000 criminal cases against legislators. One can visualise the consequences of violators of law and accused in serious crimes wielding legislative and executive powers. This may be one of the principal causes hindering efficiency of investigative agencies and judicial processes. Such a situation is bound to erode public trust in political systems and overall credibility and efficacy of our democratic processes.

    It is extremely difficult in political culture built around inherited entitlement or personality cult, and backed by substantial number of crime accused, to suddenly become engine of national and institutional transformation. It is both a cause and consequence combined deficiency of political, bureaucratic and judicial institutions, making it a serious crisis gripping Indian democracy. It shall not be unfair to observe that India's entire political space appears largely cartelised and substantially criminalised to significantly reduce scope for high-quality ideas, leadership and a genuine discourse on national issues with integrity and patriotism. This is the principal impediment to our optimal progress as a nation. 

This issue can never be redressed by moral exhortations and cosmetic criticisms by our courts. It calls for deep and comprehensive restructuring of our institutions. My paper on Indocracy, as published in Think India journal, and my observations during a seminar on reform on political parties as well as another write up on blog on this subject, offer detailed structured recommendations/perspective in this direction.

Security and Geopolitics

India continues to struggle in the trap created by the receding colonisers who fractured our composite national-cultural identity by raking up the monster of xenophobic Islamic radicalism that resulted in creation of sectarian state like Pakistan which eventually turned into the biggest aggregator of terrorism and organised crime. It also left behind a confused border issue with China that we have neither appreciated nor resolved.  I have explained in my 2020 paper on national security that how threats and challenges in the region, that we face as a nation, are far more than routine neighbourly irritants. We have seen a wide range of complex grey zone wars to identity conflicts, covert and proxy wars. Both West and China seek to equate us with Pakistan to undermine our inherent moral strengths. 

    Pakistan’s military establishment's complex network of terror proxies and organised crime group for asymmetric covert warfare against India is well known. Ironically, the two major super-powers, China and USA, have their own strategic calculations that has shaped their outlook on this issue.  India should have understood much earlier that identity war by Pakistan was not merely a law-and-order problem or a territorial dispute. Smart statecraft warranted intelligence superiority, military deterrence, diplomatic isolation, economic leverage, ideological resilience and competent justice delivery system at home to protect not only our own national cohesion but effectively curb this threat.

    Yet Indian state needs to be careful that its enemy is violent extremism and radical thought process. An effective governance apparatus and strong national cohesion, alongside robust geopolitical-security infrastructure is the only way to contain this threat. Indian state has to guard its Muslims from radicalisation by ensuring their integration at one level and deterring any hint of radical propaganda and actions.  

   India also needs strong strategic realism to shape its relationship with the wider world. Western powers, China, Russia and others pursue their own interests and agenda. Some may welcome India’s rise but only for their own interests. Others may likely to balance it by propping up Pakistan. United States has appeared to prefer India to be strong enough to be useful and yet it is back to its old ways to propping up Pakistan to neutralise India. India enjoys a big space for strategic convergence of geopolitical, economic and security interests with a large number of powers.  Yet this opportunity can be availed only stronger institutional capacities at home.

    India has traditionally enjoyed a degree of goodwill across faultlines in West Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Far East and South America. This was outcome of a variety of factors, especially our humanist-pacifist image and outlook as a state. During era of American hostility in the previous century, many American allies frequently took anti-India position. But a combination of economic, military and technological prowess has potential to alter the larger geopolitical calculus within the region and beyond to win more active allies and passive supporters. India need not take partisan stands to endorse states facing isolation. Serious security partners do not need open diplomatic mollycoddling. It is better to keep such relations under the wrap.       

    Further, it is naive to expect any global or regional hegemon to allow India to be strong enough to become consequential on its own or emerge as a formidable power. Yet we have to find our own ways and quietly negotiate challenges in this direction. Deception, ruthlessness and cold calculations have always been integral component of geopolitics. These shall continue to remain so even in foreseeable future. We must convince our corporate leaders to be partners in institution building in India rather than act as collaborators in institutional subversion for short term financial gains. It is possible for them to realign their goals in a manner where their own profitability and rise can converge with larger national priorities.  In a globalised world, an India with fragile institutions can expose them to far more serious vulnerability. 

    We must also appreciate that there are so many transnational financial, technological and strategic interests that profiteer from sub-optimal progress of India.  They would like our continued under-performance and dependence on them. Our weaker criminal justice system and poor regulations allow them to profiteer at bigger scale. They have no moral commitment to our strategic progress. They would like to cripple domestic enterprise and industry by subverting our own institutions. Most may not be foreigners. But in a globalised world, no domestic network can thrive without powerful global patronage. We need to deal with it calmly and not emotionally. 

      Stakeholders of India cannot afford to act on assumptions that the world wants us to succeed. Pleasing or soothing words of our external friends and adversaries need to be reciprocated but we cannot lose focus of deeper understanding and evaluation of different shades of external entities and contexts.  Institutional resilience alone can help us negotiate with external world more efficaciously. World respects power and careful harnessing of power further enhance comprehensive strength.  

    Our sheer survival, in a competitive and hostile world, warrants us to become economically too formidable to be coerced, technologically too innovative to be intimidated, institutionally too resilient to be subverted and strategically too valuable to be ignored. This is possible not by expression of aspirations and intent. We need genuine leaders or an army of professional leaders in different spheres. There is no dearth of smart and committed brains in our society. India never ceased to produce individuals with sagely integrity and high-quality intellect. It is imperative that they are brought together and their strengths are optimally harnessed.     

Need For a Fundamental Shift in Outlook: Relevance of Indocracy

    India needs a fundamental shift in way it interprets national power and identifies its priorities. GDP on its own is no reflection of national power. Neither are missiles, aircraft carriers or sophisticated weaponry sourced from foreign manufacturers. This is especially given our larger context. Even diplomatic visibility on its own has limited value.

    National power is the compound result of healthy citizens, educated minds, productive workers, robust and trustworthy institutions that promote excellence, technological capability, economic depth, military strength, social cohesion and national confidence and an overall culture of excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship, and total freedom for conscientious and enlightened dissidence. State has to appear protector, benefactor and corrector of every citizen, especially the high-end contributors to national power in every realm.

The governance question facing India at this juncture is deceptively simple:

How do we enhance maximum potential of every Indian and harness the same to achieve our national goals with right priorities?

This is where Indocracy becomes relevant.

    Indocracy is based on much deeper understanding of human psyche, evolutionary journey of India as well as major civilisations and their strategic psyche, especially the way these have evolved, alongside a very broad range of issues varying from governance, geopolitics, warfare, security, technology, science and economy etc. Though the entire idea is not in public domain, yet the broad contours are available. It is a scientific blueprint of a strategic statecraft that may not be perfect and requires continuous refinement. Yet Indocracy envisions a mutually empowering equilibrium between individuals and institutions and institutions and society as well as society and state. It also draws from ancient wisdom on harmony between man and nature. 

    It comes down to focusing on right priorities and appropriate capacities in each context to pursue the same. It offers a reliable framework towards societal and national transformation.

    Indocracy has also offered a comprehensive and integrated framework of all dimensions of security and warfare, integrating these with geopolitics and intelligence. It has spelled out a model for prevention, preemption and deterrence of conflicts at home by integrating governance with security and making the two proactive. Simultaneously, it has also spelled out a principle of short, swift and decisive intelligent warfare involving minimal human and material costs as well as avoidance of collateral damages. 

    There are no shortcuts in this direction. Building great states and great civilisations warrant lifetimes of dedicated efforts and initiatives over generations towards building appropriate network of dynamic institutions that are efficacious in specific context of a state in each era.       

       A commitment and progress in this direction shall be the best tribute that we can pay to our freedom fighters and martyrs even after independence who have laid down their lives. India needs Indocracy or Bharat Tantra. Where integrity, empathy, deeper wisdom and strength of human character define the core of India as a society, state and civilisation.  Simultaneously, these must lead to serious enterprise and innovation to optimise our economic, industrial, technological, intellectual, innovation and military prowess in a manner where we find a better strategic equilibrium of mutual empowerment with rest of the world.       

 PS: Kindly forgive typographic errors. 

The original post has been corrected/edited more than once.