‘THE more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war’, this was the major import of Defence Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh’s address in a top-level conference as he exhorted the defence industry and armed forces to crank up preparations in peace time. By calling peace time an illusion, the Defence Minister has conveyed that national security cannot afford even a day’s pause and calls for a dedicated participation of the entire country. In military terms, peace time is usually referred to the period between two conflicts between nations or major non-State actors. However meaning of the term goes beyond the dictionary definition as armies always use such pauses to ramp up their strength and repertoire.

 

The Indian armed forces are no exception to this unstated rule and their preparation levels were on ample display during the Operation Sindoor against Pakistan’s terror infrastructure. India’s upper hand in the retaliation by Pakistani forces reaffirmed that the peace time preparations were in the right direction. As Mr. Singh hailed the valour of the armed forces during Operation Sindoor, he also reminded that the job has not even started. The biggest gain of Operation Sindoor was the clear divulgence of future threats on simultaneous fronts for India’s military. It was never a secret that any conflict with Pakistan would invariably involved China. This time it was out in open when China used Operation Sindoor as a ‘live laboratory’ to test its defence equipment. It is now clear for New Delhi that the hyphen between the all-weather friends in the neighbourhood has achieved concrete permanence. In future, any military action against Pakistan is set to be a two-front war.

 

That clearly means India faces live borders with both China and Pakistan. Notwithstanding the disengagement deal, India must remain on full alert on the northern border. It means doubling up of men, resources, logistics, arms and ammunition apart from scaling up operational readiness in the technological domain. This is where peace time becomes a crystal clear illusion. The onus now rests on the defence industry and the Centre’s approach towards strengthening the forces with critical acquisitions. By decentralising the process of purchasing defence equipment, the Central Government has already made its preparation public. But it is still a small component of the entire security gamut which entails larger budget spending and greater allocation of funds. The defence spending must be revisited in wake of the new situations. India cannot afford to slash the defence spending if it wants to deal with the complex battlespaces. The defence budget for 2025-26 is 13 per cent which is a sharp decline of four per cent from the 2014-15 budget. Considering the changed battlegrounds and use of high-tech equipment instead of conventional weaponry, India has no option than to loosen purse strings and allow the forces to become a modern military armed with a technological edge.

 

The future brings a lot of dangerous possibilities given the churning in geopolitics. India has a constant threat in the neighbourhood. The China-Pakistan axis has become doubly pronounced and to counter the composite threat, India has to make significant expansion in conventional capabilities while adopting newer technologies from indigenous talent. Non-legacy platforms like drones and air defence mechanism systems call for a heavy investment as the future conflicts are going to be decided by technological acumen of the security forces. Strategic planning in advance has become imperative for the military along with force modernisation. The so-called peace time must be utilised for prepping up the defences for a confident posturing on all levels. Its a demand of the altered reality.