It took India almost four decades to tell the world that it had separate military and civilian nuclear programmes, and that both can coexist. The world has not sustained objections to it mainly because of India’s impeccable non-proliferation record. In space-related technology, too, India should not lose time; it must develop a separate military space programme. Today, when the Indian state is surrounded by problems at its

borders with varying degree of difficulty — and also problems within like Naxalism — it is important not only to invest in space technologies for security purposes, but even more so, to announce it.    

The writer researches non-traditional threats to national security at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Delhi express@expressindia.com