Successive Indian governments of all political colors have often seen the need for a National Security Strategy (NSS) to be drawn up to guarantee clarity in the face of external or internal aggression.
The existing National Security Act 1980 is more or less a law granting preventive detention rights to the government to stop a detainee from acting in any manner prejudicial to the country’s defense and security and its relations with foreign powers.
Speaking on the issue with Sputnik India, Lieutenant general (retired) B. S. Jaswal said the adversaries are constantly preparing themselves for futuristic war systems, and the fact India is surrounded by "unfriendly neighbors, the authorities must act accordingly."
"The National Security Strategy is a must. We can't fight wars on the basis of the 1962 model, especially when China is modernizing its defence forces keeping the futuristic wars in mind," he said.
Jaswal also cautioned that in order to defend to its interests India must pay required attention to regular modernization of its defense forces.
"...we prepare ourselves for that war which adversaries may impose on us anytime, if we rely on outdated methods of war, we would lose it," he said, with yet another caution note that "the country has to keep its enemies in mind".
The retired personnel, however, expressed satisfaction that India, keeping the prevailing situations in mind, is also preparing itself as a lot of work has been done to improve the overall defense preparedness of the country in the past few years.
"Fortunately, India is also preparing itself with the government looking into theaterization of the Indian armed forces and all domains of warfare." he said, adding that every aspect of modern warfare, be it land, air space, sea or cyberspace, must be looked into with due seriousness for capacity building.
Talking about the proposed long-awaited National Security Strategy, the retired army officer said any country's NSS is based on main factors such as economy, military and political power, also known as Comprehensive National Power (CNP).
On being asked if there would be any impact of India's NSS in the region, Jaswal said it would have "a huge impact in the region".
"The interest of the US in the Indo-Pacific region has witnessed a quantum jump in recent years. The balance of power in Asia has also seen changes with countries finding new alliances. Therefore, India's NSS needs to be a futuristic one," he stressed.