The students of the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM) at IIM Bangalore hosted Lieutenant General (Retd.) Deependra Singh Hooda, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VSM & Bar, ADC
Former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, who spoke on the topic, ‘The Challenges to National Security’ on June 12, 2019.
Drawing attention to the changing world order and “retreating globalization”, he covered India’s foreign relations and how they affect national security. “Peace with our western neighbor is very crucial for peace in our bordering states, but the policy should be nuanced, including strong military response and bureaucratic efforts at the international level,” he said.
Stating that the situation along Line of Actual Control was complicated due to different interpretation of borders by China, he explained: “China has extensively developed infrastructure along the border areas but the progress along our side has been relatively slow. This infrastructure mismatch puts us at a strategic disadvantage.”
About Kashmir, he said the need of the hour was to have sustained engagement with the youth to send out a positive message. “The population of Kashmir needs to be powered economically,” he said, calling for “a politico-military strategy”. About insurgency in the North-Eastern part of India, he said the ethnic mix has been (mis)used by miscreants to cause unrest in the region and issues such as NRC are required to be handled very maturely. “There is no national security if there are no nationals,” he said, highlighting issues such as emerging threats from environment and climate change and associating them with depleting ground water level and farm produce. He highlighted the usage of technology as a weapon by nations, the threat of targeting critical infrastructure using cyber-attacks, and the weaponization of social media.
The man, who is said to be the one behind the recent “surgical strikes”, told the audience: “The cross-border strikes sent an important message to the adversary that India would not hesitate in using the appropriate level of force, if the situation so demands. The international community accepted India’s actions and a very important message was conveyed through these strikes.”
Emphasizing that the country needs a National Security Strategy that would provide a framework for foreign and defense policies, he said India needs to strengthen military capabilities by indigenizing defense production.
Bhupendra Singh is an ex-Army Major and a student of the one-year Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (2019-20) at IIM Bangalore. He is an aspiring writer and his interests include traveling, reading, and playing badminton.