Context:
- India's decision to host the five leaders of Central Asia at the Republic Day Parade on January 26 will send a strong message about the region's new importance in India's security calculations.
Relevance:
- G.S Paper 2> International relations> India and its Neighbourhood
| Broad Objectives of India's Continental Security |
- The Constitution provides the basic structure for governance and progress in keeping with India’s vision of growth based on strength of its plurality.
- There is therefore a need to define the broad security-related objectives necessary to meet the aspirations of every Indian. These are:-
- Maintaining the unity and territorial integrity of India.
- Providing for each citizen the right to life, liberty, equity and welfare also a good standard of living;
- Working towards a peaceful, prosperous and friendly extended neighbourhood;
- Sustained high rates of inclusive economic growth;
- Credible capacities for conventional as well as non-conventional defence and dealing with asymmetric threats such as cross border terrorism;
- Political stability, internal social harmony, law, order and justice;
- Wide consensus in the polity on the basic parameters of foreign and domestic policies based on informed awareness and understanding of issues.
| Challenges to India's Continental security |
China’s Position:
- It is expanding across the Eurasian continent, with Belt and Road Initiative projects stretching from Central Asia to Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, undermining traditional Russian influence.
Pakistan:
- India has been subject for over five decades to a land embargo by Pakistan that has few parallels in relations between two states that are technically not at war.
Afghanistan
- Pakistan's close relations with the Taliban make the former a primary player in Afghanistan.
- Compared to Pakistan, India's role has been very restricted in Afghanistan, mostly focused on infrastructure development.
Border and Connectivity Issue:
- Increased militarization of the Pakistani and Chinese borders, with permanent deployment on the Siachen Glacier in the Ladakh sector looking increasingly likely.
- Difficulties have arisen in operationalising an alternative route — the International North-South Transport Corridor on account of the U.S.’s hostile attitude towards Iran.
Changing Geopolitics of the region
- China's assertive rise, the abrupt withdrawal of US/NATO forces from Afghanistan, the rise of Islamic fundamentalist forces, the shifting dynamics of Russia's historic stabilising role (most recently in Kazakhstan), and related multilateral mechanisms (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the Eurasian Economic Union, have all contributed to a tense situation.
- This competition is marked by a weaponisation of resource and geographical access as a form of domination, practised by China and other big powers.
- To meet this challenge, evolving an effective continental strategy for India will be a complex and long-term exercise.
Terrorism:
- Terrorism and its spread to regions like South East Asia, from among the Rohingya in Myanmar through Malaysia and Indonesia to the Philippines. The dangers of contagion and radicalisation in India are increasing too.
- The threats mentioned earlier are those that we can manage but the real transnational threats now come not so much from terrorism but from the militarization of outer space, from the hostile use of cyberspace, and from renewed proliferation risks.
US Stand:
- Following the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the ongoing US-Russia confrontation over Ukraine, Russian opposition to future NATO expansion, and broader questions of European security, including the issue of new intermediate-range missile deployments.
India's strategic thinking evolution from Continental Security to Maritime Security
- From ancient times to as recent as the 18th century, India has had a rich maritime history.
- However, the maritime sector came to acquire secondary importance due to two reasons:
- One was that the British systematically dismantled the indigenous maritime sector in India.
- Two, due to security concerns in the post-independence era, India had to mostly focus on the continental domain.
- Perpetual security threats from Pakistan and China through the land border in the northwest and northeast respectively led India to employ a major part of its strategic thinking and resources to the continental issues.
- Wars with Pakistan and China and Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism over the decades forced India to fix its strategic thinking on continental Security
- These have been the principal limitations for India to effectively project itself as a sea power for several decades following independence. These limitations became more pronounced from 1991 onwards when India adopted liberalization to boost its economy.
- Growth in international trade required a fully developed maritime infrastructure since most of the trade has been sea-borne. India lacked this infrastructure.
- Further, the maritime concerns were highlighted during the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 (the 26/11 terror attack).
India must strike a Balance between Maritime and Continental security
- India’s maritime vision and ambitions have grown dramatically during the past decade, symbolised by its National Maritime Strategy, the Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative for the Indian Ocean Region and major initiatives relating to the Indo-Pacific and the Quad, in which maritime security figures prominently.
- It was also a response to the dramatic rise of China as a military power.
- However, maritime security and associated dimensions of naval power are not sufficient instruments of statecraft as India seeks diplomatic and security constructs to strengthen deterrence against Chinese unilateral actions and the emergence of a unipolar Asia.
- With the recent Afghan developments, India’s physical connectivity challenges with Eurasia have only become starker. The marginalisation of India on the Eurasian continent in terms of connectivity must be reversed.
Way Forward:
- India should have a strategic vision and deploy the necessary resources to pursue its continental interests without ignoring the maritime domain.
- This will require a more assertive push for our continental domain and a proactive engagements with economic and security agendas of multilateral platforms like the SCO, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
- Stabilising Afghanistan should also be on the list.
- India can survive a defeat at sea, but not one on land. Therefore, That could be an existential threat to the union of India. History of post-1947 India clearly shows that India has rarely ever managed to recover lost ground be it in Aksai Chin or elsewhere. The only solution to this lies in not losing ground in the first place.
- At the same time, India is unique as no other peer country has the same severity of challenges on both the continental and maritime dimensions. Hence, India has to define its own continental and marine security criteria that are consistent with its own objectives and by remaining strategically autonmous.
