Armed Forces Overview: The prime minister and Council of Ministers formulate national security policy. Below this level is the civilian bureaucracy, which exercises important influence, primarily through the Defence Minister’s Committee of the cabinet. The third tier of defense policy making is the Chiefs of Staffs Committee. These three levels are supported by intelligence organizations, scientific and technical advisory committees, defense production, and research and development groups. There are three military services—army, navy, and air force—and a number of paramilitary and reserve forces. The army has been the dominant service in terms of both percentage of budget allotted to the armed forces and percentage of persons serving in the armed forces.
The military has undergone tremendous change since the early 1990s, and the government and military have seriously appraised the military’s capabilities and organization. India’s great-power aspirations have been continually hindered by its capabilities, but the situation has changed with India’s emergence as a nuclear power after successful nuclear tests in May 1998 (India has since pledged a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing). The armed services’ goals of force modernization (particularly the navy and air force) through new arms acquisitions and a “Revolution in Military Affairs” via information technology are constrained by budgetary, bureaucratic, personnel, and technological obstacles. Although the military has long desired to rely on domestically produced military goods, much matériel is imported. Indeed, the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the arm of the Department of Defence responsible for providing military hardware, has been criticized by both parliament and the military for failing to provide even basic equipment, and several DRDO projects have been behind schedule. The 1984 merger of the Department of Defence Production and the Department of Defence Supplies has not yet led to reliance on domestic production of military hardware.
Service chiefs and military officers continually suggest that the military should have greater input into defense policymaking and national security, and generally such a role is not viewed as a threat to civilian control of the military. Since 2001, the government has established the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC, which now controls the DRDO), and the National Security Council (NSC), which suggests that India has rethought its defense policymaking structure. The government has also proposed creating a Chief of Defence Staff. However, these changes have yet to make a major impact. Indeed, the NSC issued the draft nuclear doctrine but has not otherwise played an important role in defense policymaking and is criticized as an ad hoc organization.
In 2004 there were approximately 1,325,000 active-duty personnel, with 1,100,000 in the army, 55,000 in the navy (5,000 in naval aviation and 1,200 marines), and 170,000 in the air force. Reserve forces personnel totaled 535,000, and there were fourteen paramilitary forces (including the coast guard) under the control of various ministries with a total strength of 1,089,700 in 2004.
Foreign Military Relations: India’s most important bilateral relationship was with the Soviet Union, whose breakup cost India both a consistent soft-currency supplier of arms and a guardian of its interests in international forums. Since the late 1990s, arms purchases from Russia have increased, and military relations between the countries have changed from a buyer-seller relationship to collaborative development of military systems and occasional joint military exercises. Furthermore, in 2000 India and Russia signed a Declaration of Strategic Relationship that addresses military and technical cooperation and “deepening service to service cooperation.” India has strengthened bilateral defense links with France, Israel, Poland, South Africa, and the United States through various combinations of military acquisitions, agreements, and joint exercises. India has also attempted to project its influence beyond South Asia by engaging in occasional joint operations with Indian Ocean nations and participating in its first summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in November 2002.
Furthermore, Indian peacekeeping forces have been sent to Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990 and to the Maldives in 1988. Since 1950 Indian military and police contingents have participated in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces in Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Gaza, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Korea (during the Korean War), Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Vietnam, West New Guinea (West Irian), Yemen, and Yugoslavia. India has also provided police personnel and monitors for UN peacekeeping operations in Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Haiti, Kosovo, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Western Sahara.
Foreign Military Forces: The only foreign military forces in India are with the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which has 45 military observers from 9 countries stationed in Jammu and Kashmir.
External Threat: External security threats come from neighboring countries and insurgents using foreign border areas as havens for activities in India. Countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka present no conventional military threat to India, but their inability to police and control areas bordering India has provided Indian insurgents with havens. Indian government and military officials have publicly expressed concern about the political instability in Nepal posed by the Maoist insurgents. As far as external threats posed by other countries, popular opinion tends to regard Pakistan as the principal enemy, largely because of the Kashmir conflict and Pakistan’s suspected links to numerous South Asian militant groups. However, the defense establishment generally regards China as the chief external threat, because of perceived Chinese attempts to isolate India militarily and diplomatically from the rest of Asia and perceived Chinese efforts to prevent India from becoming a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. While China-India border issues remain unresolved from the Indian point of view, Sino-Indian relations have improved as China has adopted a less intimate relationship with Pakistan.
Defense Budget: India’s defense budget has grown tremendously since the early 1990s, and India accounts for more than two-thirds of South Asian military spending. India’s defense budget was approximately US$16.6 billion in 2003, about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and the 2004 defense budget is US$19.1 billion. By contrast, the 1994 defense budget was US$7.6 billion, which was also 2.5 percent of GDP in 1994. Interestingly, as a result of inefficient equipment procurement processes, defense expenditures are often less than the defense budget (around 5 percent less).
Major Military Units: The army has an estimated 800,000 active-duty troops and 300,000 reserves. The army is structured as 12 corps, 4 field armies, and 3 armored divisions under central control and organized into 5 regional commands. The Northern regional command consists of three corps with eight infantry and five mountain divisions; the Western regional command has one armored, five infantry, and three “RAPID” divisions; the Central regional command has one corps with one armored, one infantry, and one RAPID division; the Eastern regional command has three corps with one infantry and seven mountain divisions; and the Southern regional command has two corps with one armored and three infantry divisions. The navy has an estimated 55,000 persons on active duty and an equal number of reserve troops. Navy units are structured into three area commands, and there are six naval bases with three more under construction. The air force has an estimated 170,000 active forces and 140,000 reserves. Air force units are under five regional air commands.
Major Military Equipment: The army’s main equipment includes an estimated 3,898 main battle tanks, 1,600 armored infantry fighting vehicles, 317 armored personnel carriers, 4,175 towed artillery, 200 self-propelled artillery, 150 multiple rocket launchers, 2,424 air defense guns, and 100 helicopters. The navy’s arsenal is composed of 1 aircraft carrier, 18 submarines, 8 destroyers, 16 frigates, 26 corvettes, 7 amphibious ships, 88 fixed-wing aircraft, and more than 100 helicopters. The air force’s principal equipment consists of 679 combat aircraft of various types and 40 armed helicopters. India and its perennial rival, Pakistan, have developed nuclear weapons, ostensibly to deter foreign hostility, yet periodic fighting in Kashmir—such as the 1999 Kargil War—suggests that the theoretical logic of deterrence has not yet taken hold.
For decades, the military has aspired to domestic production of most items, but it relies heavily on imports of both simple items, such as clothing, and complex weapons systems. Observers contend that India has not done well with the production of tanks, helicopters, and submarines, but has fared better with missiles, small arms, and naval craft. Moreover, India’s substantial spending on defense has stirred some debate about how much the defense industry should be privatized in order to avoid a collapse similar to that suffered by the Soviet Union. However, it is believed that the Ministry of Defence’s civilian bureaucracy opposes privatization in order to protect employment in an overstaffed state bureaucracy. There has been some consideration of exporting arms to make up for budget shortfalls, but exports—and concrete efforts to increase them—remain minimal.
Military Service: The minimum age of service is 16, and the mandatory age for retirement for officers varies from 48 to 60 depending on rank. The military has expressed concern about its increasing age profile and a shortage of officers. Formal military service is completely on a volunteer basis, and India does not have—and never has had—conscription. However, a 2004 public opinion poll suggests that the Indian public is in favor of conscription.
Paramilitary Forces: Police are under the control of state governments, and the central government can assist states by providing central paramilitary forces as deemed necessary, particularly to guard coasts, borders, and sensitive military areas and to aid local police forces against insurgencies. There is also a great deal of interest in improving paramilitary training, hardware, and domestic intelligence, as paramilitary forces are often outdone by insurgents in both combat and the use of sophisticated hardware and weapons. There are 1,089,700 active paramilitary personnel (including police) and 1,027,000 voluntary reserves. The Ministry of Home Affairs controls the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF; 167,400 active); Assam Rifles (52,500); Border Security Force (BSF; 174,000); Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP; 32,400); and National Security Guard, which is composed of elements of the armed forces, CRPF, and BSF (NSG; 7,400). Other paramilitary forces include the Central Industrial Security Force (95,000), Special Protection Group (3,000), Special Frontier Force (9,000), Defence Security Corps (31,000), Railway Protection Forces (70,000), and Coast Guard (more than 8,000 with 34 patrol craft). Voluntary forces include the Home Guard (574,000) and Civil Defence (453,000). Voluntary forces typically have little military training and are used for civil disturbances and relief work.
Police: As of October 2002, there were 1,015,416 police officers in India for a national average of 1 police officer per 125 persons. Police are under the control of state governments, and, with central government permission, states are allowed to create police reserve battalions; all 13 reserve police battalions are in insurgent-prone northeastern states. State police are often assisted by—and some say depend upon—paramilitaries and the armed forces for the maintenance of internal security. An August 2000 government report on police reforms suggested that the Indian police should improve their relations with civilians, place a higher priority on crime prevention, and obtain improved infrastructure. The previous review of the nation’s police was conducted in the late 1970s, and its recommendations are as yet unimplemented.
Internal Threats and Terrorism: India’s top security concerns are mostly internal. Indeed, much of the national security apparatus is directed to maintaining territorial integrity as dozens of groups push for varying degrees of political or social autonomy, sometimes violently. India treats separatism with extreme concern given the possibility that successful separatism may establish a precedent that other groups might seek to follow. Internal threats can be categorized as religiously oriented conflict or ethnic violence, usually with separatist objectives. The 10-year Khalistani separatist conflict in Punjab terminated in 1994, but separatist violence periodically escalates in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. Numerous separatist insurgent groups are active in the northeast, and India has periodically expanded its military efforts in Assam against groups such as the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and Bodo Security Force (BSF). Other rebel groups in Assam observe cease-fire agreements with the government. The decades-long separatist conflict in Nagaland continues with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khapland (NSCN-K), although peace talks have occurred with another faction, the NSCN-IM (Isaac Muivah), after the government lifted its previous ban on the organization. In Tripura, various insurgents continue to target Bengali immigrants and Indian security forces.
Religiously oriented violence has occurred, principally among Hindus and Muslims and most notably in Ayodyha (in Uttar Pradesh) and urban areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. While less common than separatist violence, these conflicts prompt greater popular debates on Indian history, society, and politics; there are allegations that national and state-level politicians with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have facilitated such conflicts.
Human Rights: Although human rights problems exist in India, the country is generally not regarded as among the world’s serious human rights violators. Human rights problems appear to be acute in areas and periods of communal violence, and security forces, insurgents, and various ethnic-based groups have all been accused of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and various northeastern states. Furthermore, Hindu organizations have been accused of attacking religious minorities—particularly Muslims and Christians—and of receiving deferential treatment and even outright support from some political parties. Both international human rights organizations and India’s National Human Rights Commission have questioned the impartiality of police and judicial authorities in various locales.
On the other hand, human rights groups have praised India’s September 2004 repeal of the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act, which both the newly elected government and international organizations criticized as enabling human rights abuses by security forces. Indian media routinely address controversial issues, such as political corruption and discrimination against women, sexual minorities, indigenous peoples, and “untouchables.” However, the government has been accused of harassing and jailing journalists who investigate topics such as corruption and the situation in Kashmir. Moreover, in response to cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism perpetrated by parties in both India and Pakistan, India passed the Information Technology Act of 2000, which allows cybercafés and Internet users’ homes to be searched without warrants at any time as part of criminal investigations.