On the internal security front, India faces multiple challenges from both external states and non-state groups. The foreign government representative and its agency are examples of state actors. NGOs, multinational corporations, terrorist and religious groups, hackers, and other non-state players are examples of non-state actors.
External State Actors Are Posing a Challenge:
- A couple of India’s surrounding countries provide finance, training, and coordination to insurgent organisations. China, for example, is accused of supporting insurgents in the North East.
- State actors have been accused of carrying out cyber warfare through hacking and other forms of espionage in the past.
- State actors also pay proxies in and out of India in order to promote instability within the country and lower India’s international standing.
Non-state Actors Pose A Number of Challenges:
- Multinational corporations (MNCs) have the potential to endanger national security through influencing government policy, particularly in the areas of data security and cyberspace. It is for this reason that several Chinese apps have recently been restricted in India.
- Non-state organisations with anarchic and fundamentalist ideas that are incompatible with India’s secular credentials are possible dangers to the country’s peaceful internal security environment.
- Enemy countries and other non-state actors (NGOs and civil society organisations) promote and support propaganda to destabilise India by destroying the socio-religious fabric and causing riots.
- To address the issues of internal security, the following actions will be performed.
Between intelligence and law enforcement services, there must be excellent communication and collaboration. - To prevent cyber attacks, effective cyber security measures must be in place.
- The government, the media, and the public should work together to guarantee that information regarding suspicious actions is shared quickly and efficiently with law enforcement organisations.
Conclusion:
We need to think about national security in a broader sense rather than just in military terms. While it is critical to protect our borders and enhance our diplomacy, we must also keep an eye on the different non-state entities operating in the shadows. To deal with numerous issues, a national internal security doctrine is required.