India’s Internal Security Challenges

Introduction

UNDP defines security holistically by saying, “Security is an integrated, sustainable, comprehensive protection from fear, conflict, ignorance, poverty, social and cultural deprivation, and hunger, resting upon positive and negative freedoms.”  

Attributes of Internal Security  

• Secure territorial integrity and protect internal sovereignty 
• Maintain domestic peace 
• Prevalence of law and order 
• The rule of law and equality before the law—the law of the land, should protect everyone irrespective of status 
• The absence of fear implies individual freedom for people as guaranteed by the Constitution 
• Peaceful co-existence and communal harmony.

Internal Security Challenges for India

Insurgency

• The north-east continues in a state of ferment. Intrinsic problems of this area, initially highlighted by the violent Naga underground movement, are yet to be solved to the satisfaction of the people of this region, in spite of the declaration of ceasefire with the NSCN (I/M) group. 
• Many new issues have risen, adding to the volatile character of the entire region. Apart from sections of the Nagas, those among the Meiteis, the Paites, the Kukis, the Reangs, the Santhals, the Tripura tribals, the Chins, the Bodos, the Mizos, the Karbis and even the mainstream Assamese are presently engaged in movements which are far from peaceful. 

Linguistic Chauvinism

• In Tamil Nadu, exclusive forces which had skillfully exploited linguistic chauvinism and launched a significant challenge to India’s nationhood during the 1950s and 1960s have not been fully overcome. Similar issues are there in some other states of India. 

Caste Divide  

• Another issue is the affirmation of caste imperatives in the name of protection to the disadvantaged. If carried to an excess, it could have the effect of accentuating the stratification of Indian society, thus weakening it at its core. Only a few people comprehend the extent to which caste can lead to a ‘salami-type’ society. 
• Efforts are being made to exploit caste prejudices and also to intensify conflicting and contradicting strands in the caste make-up for political and other ends. These could have a pernicious fall out as is visible in the form of ‘Ambedkarisation’ and ‘Mandalisation’ of the entire social fabric in the country. 

Competitive Politics 

• Today, India faces a many-sided challenge. National parties are in a state of decline. The increasing venality of members of the political elite, the growth of sectarian, caste-based, and regional parties, and the battering that the electoral system has received, all constitute a danger to a democratic polity. 
• A major effort is needed to cleanse the political and administrative system of corruption and for radical electoral reforms encompassing aspects such as proportional representation and the right to choose ‘NOTA’ (None of the Above Candidates). 

Organised Mafia Groups  

• From 1980 onwards, it has been progressively established that besides the ‘proxy’ war waged by our neighbours, the security of India is increasingly being threatened by the operation of criminal and mafia elements which indulge in organised crime, money laundering, and smuggling. 
• The existence of a nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and crime syndicates was reported in a study undertaken by the Home Ministry in mid-1993, after the bomb blasts in Bombay. 
• Such widespread corruption and scams – subverting the functioning of vital governmental agencies-have frightening implications for internal security. It poses a serious threat to the very unity and integrity of India. 

Left-Wing Extremism 

• The Red Corridor is the region in the eastern, central, and southern parts of India that experienced considerable naxalite–Maoist insurgency. 
• The naxalite group mainly consists of the armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). These areas also suffer from the greatest illiteracy, poverty, and overpopulation in modern India and span parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal and eastern Uttar Pradesh states. 

Neighbours as Issue of Security Threat 

• India faces several security challenges, both external and internal. Unlike any other country in the World, Indian security is marred by legacy issues that include unresolved boundary disputes, not coming to terms with the partition of the subcontinent, or culture of competition and challenge in case of one and unwillingness to accept India as a regional player in the case of another, undermining Indian strategic space as it seeks to expand its political, economic and strategic influence. 

Issues of Internal Security Management in India  

• There are several limitations and failures found to be prevalent in the country, which gives rise to the growth of terrorism, insurgencies, and Left-wing Extremism. There are also several causes and factors that demarcate the limitations and failures that they need to overcome. 
• Gradually, it emerged that the existing and the largely inherited security apparatus and the security management system in totality are unsuitable and outdated. They are suffering from structural and functional limitations. 
• It was also established that the country, in spite of several limitations and a faulty system in place, is still capable of defending its security effectively.