B.RAMAN
The Government of India has taken the first important
step towards the modernisation of our national security apparatus by
commissioning a study of the apparatus as it stands today and as it ought to be
to counter likely future threats from other States and non-State actors.
2.The exhaustive study, lasting nearly 10 months,
was undertaken by a special Task Force headed by Shri Naresh Chandra, who has
had the distinction of having served as the Defence Secretary, the Home
Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary as well as the Governor of Rajasthan and
our Ambassador to the US during the critical period following our nuclear tests
of 1998. He is, therefore, no stranger to the internal and external aspects of
national security and to the linkages between national security and national
strength. The report of the Task Force was submitted to the Prime Minister on
May 23,2012.
3. The exercise has now moved into the second and
even more important step of implementation. Any exercise of this nature,
however comprehensive, will be fruitful only if the acceptable recommendations
are quickly identified and prioritised and action taken for their timely
implementation.
4. The exercise entrusted by the Government to the
Task Force was not a post-mortem necessitated by any national security failure
or set-back. It was a forward-looking exercise meant to visualise the likely national security tasks of the future keeping
in view the evolving threats to national security as well as our requirements
as a major power in the years to come.
5. The exercise undertaken by the Task Force had
its tactical as well as strategic components. The tactical component related to
identifying the gaps and deficiencies of today in national security management
and recommending measures to remove them.
6. The strategic component had an element of vision
about it. How is the security scenario likely to evolve in the foreseeable
future? What kind of new threats and vulnerabilities are likely to arise for
which we have to be prepared? How to create a modern national security
apparatus befitting India’s status as a major power and how to find the
resources for it? These were some of the questions that have been sought to be
addressed by the Task Force.
7. Such exercises are undertaken regularly in the
US and other Western countries every time a new Head of State or Government
assumes office. This is the first time that such an exercise has been undertaken
in our country since we became independent in 1947. It is to be hoped that this
will become a regular feature and that such an exercise to ensure a steady
modernisation of our national security apparatus will be undertaken at least
once in 10 years.
8. National strength and national security go hand
in hand. Without comprehensive national strength there cannot be comprehensive
national security and vice versa. Resource priorities for the modernisation of
the national security apparatus in a developing country like India cannot be
the same as in Western developed countries.
9. In a country like ours the requirements of the
people have to have the first priority. Even while not neglecting this, one has
to find the resources for constantly upgrading our national security apparatus.
How to do this? That is a difficult and complex question to which the answer
has to be found by the political leadership on the basis of the various options
identified by the professional experts---serving and retired. It is important
to work towards a national political and intellectual consensus on the need for
a time-bound modernisation of our national security apparatus and for finding
the required material and human resources even while not overlooking the priorities
for the common man.
10. While it is for the Government to decide on the
drill to be followed for the implementation of the Task Force report, three
aspects to be kept in view may be underlined:
·
Firstly, the need to take the public
into confidence to the extent possible on the main features of this exercise so
that it has broad public support.
·
Secondly, the need to ensure
institutional and political consensus at every stage of the implementation.
·
Thirdly, the need for a standing
mechanism to monitor the implementation process.
11. It would be neither possible nor advisable to
make the entire report of the Task Force available in the public domain. Its
assessment of the external security scenario is sensitive and could have a
negative impact on our diplomacy if made available in the public domain. But
its assessment of the internal security scenario and resource constraints could
be made available in the public domain after suitable editing.
12. The implementation process cannot be
satisfactory unless all Government departments and institutions that might be
affected by the implementation positively or negatively co-operate in the
implementation exercise. If they co-operate only in respect of those
recommendations that are favourable them and oppose those that are not
favourable, the implementation will be half-hearted. A political consensus at
the central level and between the Centre and the States would smoothen the
implementation process.
13. The monitoring of the implementation by the
National Security Council Secretariat or by any other suitable mechanism would
ensure that the recommendations do not fall in limbo. ( 25-5-12)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For
China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )
