Indian Defense Policy

Abstract

Despite persistent rural and urban poverty today, India is a major Asian military power with global aspirations. It is a self-declared nuclear weapons state; it possesses a modest but growing nuclear arsenal, a million man army, a substantial and modern air force, and a two-carrier navy. The Indian military has successfully prosecuted four wars against Pakistan (1947—8, 1965, 1971, and 1999) and is no longer likely to countenance a military calamity as it did with China in 1962. It has also successfully helped suppress a series of domestic insurgencies and is currently involved in at least one major operation against insurgents in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite the end of the Cold War, many of India's security problems have not diminished. From the standpoint of Indian defense planners, the country faces two major external threats and a number of continuing internal challenges. The external threats emanate from Pakistan in the immediate term, and from China over the longer horizon. The internal challenges involve secessionist movements, class-based uprisings, and the lurking possibility of mass-scale communal violence.