Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Talk on National Security & National Interests

One of my first public musings! It has been a life long passion of mine to learn about all matters related to defence forces of India. It started when I was about 14 years, fascinated as I was with the various defence and weapons systems. It slowly developed over time to learn about the ethos of our armed forces, then to strategic matters. Over time, I have developed my own take on strategic affairs and National security related issues.

I have learnt a lot from my long association with Bharat Rakshak , a compendium of Indian military sites. One of the first comprehensive ones on the Internet and the most comprehensive one at that. There are very informative and active forums on the site that attracts a wide range of passionate enthusiasts with a lot of knowledge on varied range of subjects.

That apart, I have learnt a lot on my own. I do not claim to be an expert or academic from a strategic think tank, but definitely a well informed citizen on these matters. Over the years, I have felt the need to create an awareness about these important matters amongst Indians. Most of us do not seem to have an understanding of most of these issues and the media in India can at best described as incompetent and incoherent.

Recently, I made a small presentation to a forum that encourages debates on issues of national interest in Chennai. The audience comprised largely the elder generation. The objective of the forum, called Brains Trust, is to bring forth issues of national importance to a larger audience devoid of ideological colourings usually provided by a disingenious media and provide a forum for people to understand the reality that is beneath.

For me it was the first attempt to talk to a public forum on this subject. The presentation I had made on that occassion is attached. I have drawn heavily on the slides made by D.Ramana who is one of the forum moderators in Bharat Rakshak forums. An old friend and a brilliant Indian!

Over the next few posts, I will elaborate on some of these topics. I usually call these rambles, when I post these occassionally in the BR forum. So you can expect more rambles and musings here.

Please take a look and share your views.

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