Scholars Voice: A New Way of Thinking

Centre for Defence Sciences

Vol. 2, No. 1, January-June 2011, 89-91

Research & Development

Indias Internal Security Challenges: An Analyses

Dr. Dhirendra K. Pandey*
#
Abhaya Raj Singh
Abstract

Internal Security has been an important component of National

Security Management as currently India is facing much more internal
security challenges than ever before.

Internal Security has been an important component of National Security

Management. In India, it has been debated extensively from the days of Manu
Smirity to present day including Mahatma Gandhi in his My Experiments with
Truth. In this entire debate stretching over 5000 years, one view is very clear that
in every period, there has been dissatisfaction among a section of the subnationalist group which felt that the concept of unity in diversity is not a feasible
model for a nation state and as a result state has to garner power to bring these
sub-nationalists elements into the mainstream.
Further, internal security has been the crux of national security which has
three main objectives safeguarding territorial integrity, preserving sovereignty
and maintaining domestic peace. India since independence is facing numerous
problems of internal security. We can categories the Indias Internal Security
problems in following three categories
a.

Problems of Nation Buildings In this category we can includes poverty,

illiteracy, majority minority division, corruption and uneven-economic
development etc.

b. Problems of Disputes, Governance and Management Under this category we

can includes the following problems.
i. Jammu & Kashmir Problem - When we talk of Kashmir Problem, it means
the question of final dispensation of the status of Jammu & Kashmir state.
Whether it should remain part of India, became part of Pakistan or
remains independent. Stated in the frank way, the positions of India and
Pakistan are rigid. Nor those who are protagonists of an independent
state seem inclined to change this stand. If the state is an irrevocable part
of India like any other states and if Pakistan treat the problem as
unfinished agenda of partition and insist that the whole state, including
* Asso. Professor & Head, Dept. of Defence Studies, H.N.B. Garhwal University, New Tehri, Garhwal
#

Research Scholar, Dept. of Defence Studies, H.N.B. Garhwal University, New Tehri, Garhwal

ISSN 0974-6501
2011 Centre for Defence Sciences Research & Development

90

Scholars Voice: A New Way of Thinking

Dr. D. K. Pandey & Abhya Raj Singh

the part that it calls Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas, belongs to
Pakistan. Then is not a dialogue merely an exercise in fertility, many would
ask.
Yet what are the alternatives? War? For a number of reasons this option is
not available to either India or Pakistan. Firstly none of them can afford to
deny international opinion, which never allow India and Pakistan to do so.
Secondly in a possible nuclear war, to which any Indo-Pak war would
eventually lead, there is no winner. One needs not go in to calculations,
through some estimates are available of cost of war in terms of human
lives, money and developments but more so incalculable cost of human
values, human misery and the lasting effects on the minds of the people in
both countries. Thus, the continuing tensions between India and Pakistan
have a direct bearing on the Internal Security Scenario in India.
ii. Insurgency in North-East - In North-East, gone are the days when small
bonds of proud tribesman fought and defended themselves with poison
tripped arrows. Today, the ethnic minorities are wielding sophisticated
weapons and engaging national armies in combat unceasingly. In brief
they are all zealously guarding their ethnic identity. Indias North-East is
one of the South Asias hottest trouble spots not simply the region has
more than 50 armed insurgent organization operating and fighting the
Indian State, but because trans-border linkages that these groups have
and strategic alliances among them, have acted as force multipliers and
have made the conflict dynamics all the more intricate. These linkages
could be tactical, operational linkages or for financial benefits.
iii. Border Management - As maximum Indian borders are man-made artificial
boundaries and not based on natural features such as rivers and
watersheds, they are extremely porous and easy to cross. For instance,
one of the biggest challenges facing today is the migration of population
for employment from Bangladesh to India. In addition, some neighboring
countries have tried to provide safe havens to terrorist in the guise of
supporting freedom movement and try to acquire pressure points vis--vis
India. By co-incidence two of the world largest drug producing centers,
Golden Crescent in the west and Golden Triangle in the east are located
closed to Indias border. With the result, India is emerging as a major drug
trafficking transit point for the global drug trade merchants.
Beside all of these, two of Indias most important neighbors, Pakistan and
China have raised border disputes with India. There is also a simmering
discontentment in Bangladesh with its land borders with India. All have
tried to resolve the issue by use of force and failed.
c.

Problems of Ideological Differences

i. Naxalism - The maoist problem has reached alarming proportions in most
of central and east India. They are spreading their roots now to the south
and to the west. If they are handled with the same foot dragging that the
government is generally known for, then very soon we will have a full

Indias Internal Security Challenges: An Analysis

Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan-June 2011

91

fledged war on our hands. On the one hand will be the maoists with their
cadres of the illiterate poor and on the other a lethargic administration
with their legions of corrupt and inefficient police personnel. Such a
situation is a potential breeding ground for a long terms disaster which
may not be fixable in the near future! "It is neither a local law and order
problem, nor a problem of a single state. It is a national challenge that
demands a comprehensive strategy. This strategy must take into account
not only the policing or the military aspects, but also the economic, social
and cultural dimensions,"
ii. Terrorism - Terrorism in India has had a long and violent history going
back several decades. But, in the recent past it has witnessed a series of
strikes in many parts of the country. The last decade has witnessed lethal
strikes on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, synchronized
series of attacks in the economic hub of India, Mumbai on 26 November
2008, bomb blast in the technology, educational and real estate hub of
India, Pune on 13 February 2010 and recently the bomb blast at the place
of worship in religious city, Varanasi on 08 December 2010. As terrorism
emerges as one of the greatest threats to Indias internal security, the
government, policy makers and strategic community continue their efforts
to find an anti-dose to counter the menace of terrorism. Poignantly, the
Mumbai terror strike in 2008 exposed the fissures in the Indias internal
defense apparatus as it was caught unaware and unprepared. However,
the incident provided the Indian government an important lesson to
prepare itself and deal with the new-age terrorism. A stringent series of
measures have since been initiated to revamp its existing homeland
security apparatus to shield and secure the country against future terror
aggressions.
Conclusion
Security is not a luxury and is not merely a function of the state; it is a way of
life. India has to and can overcome the general inability of democracies to put
together the political will, the resources and the strategies that are necessary to
prevail over all internal security threats. Real reforms that would remove or
minimize economic and religion/caste-based inequalities, good and honest
governance and effective policing are pre-requisites for the marshalling the total
resources of the nation in these efforts. Morever, the choice is not between
solution and no solution. Even a few steps towards a solution, narrowing the wide
gaps between deferent position and reduction in degree of tension and violence
should be welcome. The Govt of India should also be prepared to lower the
threshold of tolerance in relation to internal security problems and to serve
credible notice that India has the capabilities and the determination to inflict
prohibitively high and unacceptable cost of these problems against Indian
interests.

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