Dropping Guard

India is unquestionably one of the rising superpowers of the world today. Along with China, it is growing at a breath taking pace on the world economic stage.

The frenzy for resources to support economic growth in the Asian continent has posed some interesting military alignments. China is pushing against India ever so inexorably as their paths are likely to cross sooner or later. The United States would like to keep as much a check as possible on both India and China so as to maintain its global dominance. Both China and the US will not hesitate to leverage any opportunity to stall each other or India if it comes to conflicting interests on resources. Pakistan is a country that lacks sufficient independent economic thrust and fully recognizes this. It takes aid from both the US and China in return for its support on destabilizing whoever the aid providing entity wants it to focus on. India is looking to strengthen its position with the US and Japan. Remember, wars are only fought for control over resources, no matter what noble ideals are used to justify the deed.

In the light of this current scenario, India has recently gone on a high defence alert and has been out in the open market spending billions on defence related purchases through which it hopes to create a deterrent to any nation harbouring interests in its resources. Though the percentage spent on the defence budgets may not be as high as compared to that of other nations, it still is a significant amount when considering the needs of the majority of the country.

When India got its independence, it gained huge respect on the world stage for its non-violent methods. This has been oft used as an example in the following decades as a symbol of man’s potential. It is said that Gandhi did not want independent India to have an army and wanted India to be an example to the world but the ruling elements of the country were not ready for such a bold step.

What happens if today India disbanded its defence mechanisms at a time when it is in the spotlight on the world stage as one of the key players for at least the next 2-3 decades? What is the worst that can happen?

Let us consider Pakistan  – a country torn by internal strife and barely able to govern its existing nation. Will Pakistan occupy Kashmir and then the rest of India? Will Pakistan have the resources to attempt such a feat and rule a country the size of India? What is more likely to happen is that the state of Pakistan will dilute and merge with India and be absorbed into the Indian way of life

What about China? China has a critical need for resources which it can obtain from India and help to fuel its growth. But does that mean that the Chinese army will enter into and try to occupy and govern the whole of the Indian nation? Will the Chinese try to implement their political system across a diverse nation like India and will it succeed? Will the Chinese bring about a revolution among the massive rural population in India and raise them above their current standards of living? Will China do more damage to India’s natural resources than what our politicians and businessmen are already doing? Will the common man stop being any less Indian than he currently is if China lays claim to the entire Indian sub-continent? Will a nation as big as China with its responsibility for the welfare of its teeming billions want to take on the responsibility to another nation with its teeming billions? Can China attempt genocide across a country as large as India? The impression I get is that most of our worst fears in this regard are not valid.

Will Sri Lanka try to invade India? Will the US or Russia try to occupy India? I don’t think so.

What about the internal factions looking to break up India into smaller fiefdoms – would they use the opportunity to try and break away?

Do we really need an army with its vast overheads or can we not divert this into areas where we can make a real difference to the lives of our people? Wouldn’t an act such as this truly show India as the greatest nation ever in the history of mankind and possibly serve as a catalyst to set about a series of positive actions including possibly global nuclear disarmament, cutting down of worldwide defence spending and the possibility of setting up a truly international army run by the United Nations? Wouldn’t an act like this possibly spell the end of all terrorism and militancy across the world? Wouldn’t Gandhi’s nation be able to hold its head high and say that as a nation we are now truly civilized?