Synergy Between National Security Aspects & Education : Converting it Into a Reality

The armed forces are the integral part of any nation’s defence both internal & external. Also the administration is very important for the day to day functioning of the nation as mandated in the constitution. Education is very important for the all round progress of nation & helps in nation’s growth, diplomatic heft & understanding of common issues among citizens in a more formal way. Hence, there is a need to create a synergy between education & defence, administration for the overall well being of nation.

The synergy between the 3 is important for mainly the reason that : if jawans, public policy makers learn a complex subject then it will help them to counter 5th generation warfare easily.

In today’s world, cyber warfare is also a reality which needs our “future armed forces jawans , public policy makers” should also be aware of. Here is where education plays it’s role when the jawans face such kind of 5th generation warfare where they will at least know the facts on how to counter it. The second main important why there has to be a synergy between national security aspects & education is to help the common civilians understand the complex situations that India faces so that they can also be mentally prepared.

Though their exists many universities in India who provide degrees in subjects like national security these are very limited & can have their own limitations, here is where the Government of India can take the lead.

I argue that in both the BA as well as Bsc Courses in NDA there must be a subject related to “FinTech & mass communication “. The reason is that FinTech will help the jawans understand the new complex technologies which may be helpful in national security apart from providing them the very much required financial technological literacy which will boost, India’s digital economy. The benefits of teaching mass communication would help India counter dangerous narratives in an effective way.

The GoI should consider opening an National Academy of Administrators to mould young children with spark in the areas of administration & public policy. This can be made on the lines of NDA. Then after 3 years of training the cades should be sent for further training at Lal Bahadur Shastri School of Administration, Dehradun along with qualified UPSC candidates. This would help India to create a pool of public policy makers which would help in easy implementation of projects. In fact during the course of training the cadets should be asked to present a working paper on issues faced by people to which they should produce their own model which can be explained in front of the PM,UPSC Board & others.

During the third phase of training the UPSC IAS cadets should be asked to do a month long internship with NDRF/central forces as logistics members. They would be able to coordinate more with their NDRF/central forces logistics counterparts.

The GoI should also find out new innovative ways of incorporating national security into education & vice versa. It should also renovate, revisit its policies from time to time.