India’s Internal Security Situation: Threats and Responses

Abstract

Challenges to internal security of India are numerous. The extent and scope of threats are complex, varied and vast. No other country in the world confronts so many threats, with so much intensity, at the same time. Overall, more than 50 per cent of India is said to be affected by one or the other of these threats, which are not just ‘law and order’ problems. They have increasing external dimension falsifying conventional wisdom that internal security threats are caused mainly by internal sources. They threaten the body politic like a ‘cancer’. The state of poor internal security situation is not because of India’s unfavourable strategic environment but also due to weak internal security mechanism, especially its criminal justice system. In this context, the article argues that if appropriate actions are not taken, the threats may result in the gradual degradation of the Indian State. It suggests renewed set of policies and mechanisms in political, economic, socio-cultural, military and diplomatic arena.

Transcending Natural Resource Management towards Clinch of Internal Security: Some Evidences from India

“…Making a beginning in Naxalbari in West Bengal and Telangana in Andhra Pradesh in the 1970s, the move has since spread to Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Maharashtra. Naxalism reflects violent acts by rural and tribal people against the government to the extent they feel dissatisfied with its policies (Manoharan, 2013). They only have a wide-spread perception that "Land reforms and efforts at the redressal of genuine grievances have only been superficial and that the exploiters continue to exploit the poor and landless agriculturists or the tribal" (Staniland, 2018;Singh, 2013).…”

“…While the eighties saw an unforeseen terrorist uprising in Punjab for Khalistani propaganda under sneaky support of Pakistan, the nineties were marked with the insurgency in Kashmir having its roots in the wake of partition. Terrorism became cancer all over the country (Nayar, 2003;Manoharan, 2013). Jammu and Kashmir have been landing of unabated conflicts, which is the foreground for infiltrators duped with an ideology of shattering everyone's mind and soul by terror.…”

“…The separatist forces in the north-east still resurface to its evil extent, and perpetual threats emanate from Bangladesh. The Maoist thrives on Indian soil with no words of warning before a fatal strike is met, and human innocence is overtaken by the death of dutiful police personnel (Manoharan, 2013). Naxalism stretched from Central India to some southern states, and the state of turmoil was never stalled in the Red Corridor belt (Staniland, 2018).…”

“…One such practical approach can be proper management of resources as the basis of directive planning. The districts prone to such insurgencies have been found more or less backward where geographically, the resources need effective management and sustainability in their socio-economic perspectives (Manoharan, 2013;Nayar, 2003). These backward blocks after effective surveys are found to be areas of gigantic natural resources and not of tapering or falling resources.…”

“…It has evolved with a varied history, geography, objectives, traditions, backgrounds, interests, attitudes, perceptions, and ideologies. To remain unified by adopting the concept of national integrity above these differentiating forces has always been a security killer of Indians (Manoharan, 2013). Traditionally thought, security threats stemmed from hostile countries (Watson and Fair, 2013), but, today, it has taken the form of indigenously rooted.…”