Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the two-day 8th National Security Strategies (NSS) Conference-2025 in New Delhi on July 25-26, 2025. The Conference was held in hybrid format, combining physical and virtual modes. The attendance included the Union Home Secretary, Deputy NSA and Heads of CAPFs and CPOs, DGsP of States and UTs as also young police officers; all told around 800 police and intelligence officers.
The issues discussed included: role of external actors inimical to India and their domestic linkages including in narcotics trade; illegal use of encrypted communication apps; terror financing; crowd control technologies; security of uninhabited islands; civil aviation and port security; counter terrorism, Left Wing Extremism (LWE); countermeasures for narcotics trafficking.
Shah gave directions for: undertaking dedicated measures to bring back fugitives involved in terrorist and smuggling activities; enhanced inter-agency coordination between Central and State law enforcement agencies; recalibrating approach for disrupting domestic nodes of terror-criminal nexus; MHA to set up a forum with stakeholders across the spectrum to come up with solutions to counter the use of encrypted communication by terror networks; review terror financing mechanisms to unearth terror modules; only indigenous technology to be used by police organisations.
Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Shah said that India’s rising stature would lead to national security challenges in years to come. He emphasised that the next 5-10 years would be very important for the development and security of the country, and that internal security challenges would remain dynamic in view of India’s geopolitical neighbourhood; asking State and Central security agencies to adopt the motto of ‘Suraksha, Sajagta and Samanvay’ (Security, Alertness and Coordination).
Does all that is mentioned above meet the requirement of a National Security Strategy (NSS) or are we shadow boxing with only Internal Security? To a question posed in Parliament a few years back whether India has a NSS, the government response was that there are only some NSS-related letters in various ministries but no NSS per se. On two separate occasions in the past, HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) gave presentations to the then NSA/Deputy NSA how the military can help formulate the NSS, but these officials were not interested.
In 2018, an apex level Defence Planning Committee (DPC) chaired by NSA Ajit Doval was set up to formulate the NSS and a National Defence Strategy (NDS) but there has been no update on the progress. In the past, former Army Chief Gen. Manoj M. Naravane had said it was essential to have an NSS, NDS and a higher defence organisation in place and only then we can think of integrated theatre commands. In March this year, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) publicly said that India does not need a written NSS.
Chauhan’s comments were seen as an attempt to shield Doval’s inability to formulate NSS; Chauhan having worked under Doval for nine months as a retired three-star, helped his rise to four-star CDS. Can Chauhan answer why the government set up the DPC in 2028 to formulate the NSS and NDS in the first place? Chauhan seems to have got into a spot because his new book ‘Ready, Relevant and Resurgent – a Blueprint for the transformation of India’s Military’, forward of which is written by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, indicates the Indian Military has bought into the governments ‘Hindutva’ project, due to which he probably missed Mentioned-in-Despatches for Operation ‘Sindoor’? Multidisciplinary warriors in new-age warfare are definitely required, but Chauhan’s call for hundreds like Napoleon or Field Marshal Manekshaw is more of political pawpaw, given that one Manekshaw demolished East Pakistan.
For the Home Ministry, national security boils down to internal security. In 2014, NSA Doval told the Police Academy, Hyderabad there will be no war and everything will have to be done by police forces. For most politicians, national security is ‘military security’ but , whereas, comprehensive national security includes: personal security; community security; food security; health security; military security; economic security; cyber security; energy security, political security; environment security.
Are we blind to the fallouts of no NSS: Pakistan surprised us with the Kargil intrusions in 1999; 21 years later, China surprised us in Ladakh despite a new PLA road 5-km short of Galwan and four Chinese motorized divisions exercising in Aksai Chin – later it was inserted in media we knew they (PLA motorised divisions) could reach us in 24-36 hours, but we never thought they would do so – sic; the Doval-engineered blockade of Nepal pushed Kathmandu into China’s lap; the pusillanimous withdrawal from Kailash Range left us without any clout on the bargaining table with China; we had no idea of the CIA-engineered regime change in Bangladesh; in launching Operation ‘Sindoor’ we didn’t even know Nur Khan air base is under US control, American nukes are stored in the vicinity of Nur Khan and Kirana Hills, and terrorists had vacated Muridke. These are but a few examples.
Today, when the Army Chief is cautioning that the next war may happen soon, our military (especially the IAF) remains underequipped, defence budget allocations remain poor, and the din over Atmanirbhar in Defence avoids mentioning what percentage has been achieved, and what are the time-lines with what percentages to progress it beyond. Ironically, the political line is that we are God’s own who can’t do anything wrong, so the recurring defaults are shoved under the table.
The POTUS Donald Trump, with all his idiocies, can’t get funny with China not only because China is the production powerhouse of the world but also because China has the largest reserves of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and accounted for over two-thirds of global production in 2024. REEs are crucial for magnets in defence production, electronics, clean energy solutions, electric vehicles, wind turbines, catalysts in automotive and petroleum industries, and the like. India holds reserves of 6.9 million metric tons of REEs but lacks any indigenous magnet manufacturing capacity and depends heavily on imports, primarily from China; in FY2025, India imported 53,748 metric tons of rare earth magnets. India is now planning to launch a Rs 3,500–5,000 scheme aimed for domestic production REEs and magnets derived from them. But why have we been sleeping all these years with BJP in power since 2014? Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech “Nehru neglected Semiconductor factories”, when Nehru died in 1964 and the first semiconductor factory in the world was established in the US in 1968 – shouldn’t Modi’s speechwriter be kicked? How long will we duck behind Nehru?
We gloat over increased forest cover, wildlife conservation, renewable energy and tackling pollution, but simultaneously throttling the Himalayas, causing landslides, cloud bursts and loss of lives, with unchecked construction, growing infrastructure and unrestrained tourist influx. Geologists had given stern warnings that the Char Dham route should be two-lane (not four-lane) but who is bothered? Now a WhatsApp message says India could rain 1.6 MT water on enemy locations in just six hours – is this a diversion to scare China? Environmental disasters have a bearing on national security, so does the new Chinese mega dam being built proximate to India although Assam’s chief minister dismisses it as inconsequential.
The NSS should include the following: one, India’s political aims goals in terms of power projection, promoting security, economic, technology, environmental and biodiversity interests; two, India’s interests in other countries and regions extending outwards from South Asia; three, interests and relationship matrix with major powers and the UN; four, threats, challenges and competitors to India’s interests in respect of the above paradigms.
Like NSS of any country, there would also be a need to include the following that may remain undeclared: first, strategy to deal with competition and challenges by setting time bound objectives in diplomatic, economic, technology, and defence and security fields vis-a-vis the competitors; second, identify economic, strategic, military and technology leverages and inter-se priorities of countries; third, lay down strategic choices for entering strategic partnership in the short- mid- and long-term context; fourth, review of internal dynamics of India, its linkages with trans-border threats and challenges posed for the security forces including assessing degree of expected involvement of Armed Forces in the internal dynamics.
Finally, threats to national security are mostly identifiable but vulnerabilities may not be clearly identified, being only indicators. Challenge of implementing NSS lies in preventing vulnerabilities transforming into threats also using non-military elements of national power. We need an NSS and are capable of formulating it but whether we will get one is anybody’s guess. One reason for its absence is, it will usher accountability of the government, avoiding which appears to be the aim.
The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.
