It is fascinating how all the conversation around the new government’s agenda, even the 100-day plans being drawn up by its various ministries, is mainly focused on the economy, infrastructure — physical and human — and what are described as social sector schemes. The near-total absence of the word “security” from these discussions is both reassuring and worrying. Reassuring, because it underlines the fact that despite occasional terrorist attacks, we Indians now feel more secure than at any time in the past. There is no active hostility on any of our borders; with the one terrible exception of Gujarat in 2002, we have not seen a communal riot of any notable size since December 1992; and the Naxalite threat in east-central tribal districts apart, there is no real, active insurgency. It is also worrying because this sweet-spot feeling can make us complacent, as it possibly did in the first four years of UPA-I. The internal security machinery went to sleep then, and even defence just ambled along, postponing acquisition, returning modernisation budgets unspent, and generally hunting for evidence to nail the previous government on its import deals.

UPA-I was shocked out of that complacency by 26/11. There was a quick and unpleasant realisation that India had slipped in both its conventional deterrence capability vis-à-vis Pakistan and its internal security, and the paramilitary forces and intelligence agencies were physically and logistically run down and low on morale. And while this led to some quick action and damage control, with the appointment of an “active” home minister and the defence ministry springing into action, there is a danger now that security could slip back in our priorities, particularly if we are gifted a few more months of peace and calm. Several facts would caution us against such premature smugness.

... contd.