The faculty and course members of the 58th Course of the NDC, called on the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, today (November 12, 2018) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the global environment in which we live is challenging and dynamic. There was a time when security and defence were synonymous with the need to maintain a nation’s territorial integrity. That is no longer the case. Today, the idea of security incorporates economic and energy security, as well as concerns about cyber-security, health, food, emerging technologies and the environment. In an increasingly connected world, political, social and economic upheavals beyond our national borders impact our security more strongly than ever before.
The President said that it is quite a complex task to bring different disciplines together to work in an integrated manner in the security domain. In a democratic system like India’s, this requires different agencies and departments of the state – or even the private sector – to work in coordination. And to understand the strengths and limits of each other’s functioning. This means that the political executive and officers of the civil services must be conversant with the capabilities and thinking of the defence forces. Similarly, military officers need to be sensitised to the constitutional and administrative framework within which the executive operates. All of these are elements in the creation of a national security approach.