The esteemed speakers at the conclave were M. K. Narayanan, Former Governor of West Bengal and National Security Advisor of India (NSA), Ms. Kavitha D Chitturi, Jt. Managing Director, KCP Ltd and the immediate past president of MMA, Lt. General V R Raghavan, (Retd) PVSM UYSM, AVSM, Military Strategic Thinker and Former Director General of Military Operations Indian Army, Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswami, Professor of Journalism, Prof. Varun Sahni, Vice Chancellor, Goa University along with KAS representatives Mr. Peter Rimmele and Mr. Pankaj Madan.
Ms. Kavitha D Chitturi, the immediate past president of MMA said in her welcome address that this fourth series would be a medium term review at various levels of governance followed by discussion of security issues.
In his introductory remarks, Mr. Peter Rimmele, KAS Resident representative brought out the German perspective on EU-US-NATO relationship and the heightened concerns in the post-cold war era as well as importance of strengthening multilateralism related platforms. He closed his remarks by raising a question whether India should manage its security issues all alone or should it look for like-minded allies.
M. K. Narayanan, Former Governor of West Bengal and National Security Advisor of India divided his keynote address into four segments- State of the World, new Strategic Imperatives, the Security Outlook in our Neighbourhood and the Internal Security Dimension.
In these four segments he elaborated about nationalism being the new mantra, which has created new effects in global disorder. Thus it is causing conflict between politics and economy. He said rising tensions among countries are higher today than any time in the past 50 years. He further briefed about security threats like terrorism and cyber security while saying that ‘Terrorism is the cardinal danger and the single most serious threat that we confront today.’ He concluded that it would be a mistake to underestimate the potential agitations by both agrarian and dalit groups while assessing them as future threat they pose to national security if neglected.
At the end he added regarding the ‘Way Forward’ that ‘Eternal Vigilance is essential if national security is to be preserved and protected.’
This address of Mr. Narayanan was followed by expert’s views. The panel of experts was chaired by Lt. General V R Raghavan, (retd) PVSM UYSM, AVSM, military strategic Thinker and former Director General of Military Operations, Indian Army. He said national security has expanded beyond what it was before and also there were many other dimensions to it such as economic , trade and energy security, political security, environmental security and so on.
Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswami, Professor of Journalism spoke about challenges and opportunities of 2019 and beyond in the realm of national security perspectives. The issue of INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) treaty between Russia and US being in tatters was raised. He also said that Trump’s pull-out from various treaties has resulted in economic and geo-strategic as well as ecological instability.
In his conclusion he added that India must keep in mind that geo-political realities must sync be in with Indian national strategic and economic interests.
Prof. Varun Sahni, Vice Chancellor, Goa University emphasized on deficits and dilemmas and quoted that ‘until we have the missile Agni 5’s in serial production, we are always at the back-foot when it comes to China’. He also pointed out other issues like non-performance of DRDO, absence of Chief of Defense Staff, National Defense University still not having been set up for holistic training, involvement of army in internal security duties-as a fundamental question and matters of grave concern.
Lt. General V R Raghavan, Chair of the Panel closed the session by stating that India’s tolerance has been stretched and threshold of tolerance should not be crossed.
Pankaj Madan of KAS gave Concluding Remarks and praised the speakers for giving valuable inputs on security issues on global levels which were percolating down to India and how they are affecting us. He threw light on all issues threadbare including (rise of Russia) that were discussed and how they were affecting all of Europe, ASEAN and UN.
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM, Executive Director, MMA thanked KAS, ORF, distinguished speakers, all partners along with 570 delegates present at the conclave.