COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY: PERSPECTIVES FROM INDIAN REGIONS Delhi Policy Group had organised a national seminar on `Comprehensive Security: Perspectives from Indian Regions' in August 2001. The Seminar was a part of the Project on `South Asian Comprehensive Security Dialogue' and is the second in the series. The earlier seminar, held in January 2001, examined the concept of Comprehensive Security from the perspectives of the South Asian countries. As the title suggests the present seminar was to examine the debate on the expanded notion of security within India. To get an Indian perspective it was imperative to move ahead of the localised Delhi centred thinking on national security and find out the views from the regions whether they differed from the accepted notion of national security or in consonance with it. For this, the country was categorised in different regions viz: North, South, East and West and the paper presenters from each of these regions spelled out the security concerns of their region which were part of the larger framework of national security. The paper presenters from the Eastern Region of India highlighted the issue of insurgency and migration with in the region. Migration from Bangladesh and Nepal was the main security concern which not only affected the concerned region but also impacted on the country's security and its relations with the neighbouring countries in the East. Prof. A.C. Sinha initiated the North East India's views on Comprehensive Security. In his paper on the issue of the `Indians of Nepalese Origin (INO) and Security of North East Region' he highlighted the dilemmas of identity and dual citizenship amongst the INO intensified by the free movement of population between India and Nepal through the Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The younger generation however no longer get state patronage which their fathers got in the Indian Armed forces and on the other hand "as the progenies of the ex- soldier settlers they are seen as the natural allies of the evil(civil) state by the local dissenters. In this unsettled ambiguous and unemployed background, the INO youth may easily be roped in by their playmates- turned insurgents as warriors and conspirators in anti- state activities". Emphasising on `Low Intensity Conflict and the Challenges of the Forced Displacement in North East India', Prof. O.P. Mishra highlighted the internal conflicts in the region which had generated internally displaced people. Movement of population from across the international border had brought in the presence of refugees in the north east. Sanjoy Hazarika highlighted the core issues of underdevelopment, economic exploitation and alienation as factors responsible for insurgency and militancy in his paper on `The Wages of Ad hocism : Trauma in India's North East'. The Scholars representing Southern India described Comprehensive Security as inclusive of military and non- military threats to the country. Prof. Gopalji Malviya noted that the Indian Security Doctrine should address political, territorial, economic, socio- cultural, ecological, trans- national and technological threats in his paper on `A Dialogue for India's Comprehensive Security'. The Security Doctrine should manage security holistically by coordinating political, economic, diplomatic, scientific and technological strengths and assign effective organisational roles to National Security Council and the Chief of the Defence Staff. Prof. K.M. Seethi emphasised on the efficacy of the concept of democratic decentralisation and participatory development in his paper on `Security Civil Society and the Kashmir Question: A View from the South'. According to him the issue of Kashmir is much more than the "problem of Pakistan and the militants" and the answer to "end this human security question is democratisation of the Kashmiri society by winning over the people rather than alienating them from the mainstream". Slow pace of economic development, information warfare from Pakistan, menace of drugs trafficking across the border were the issues concerning the security of western India which the scholars felt needed to be tackled at the state level but with the help of the centre. In his paper on `Comprehensive Security: A Perspective from Western Region', Rajesh M. Basrur, noted nuclear threat as the primary military threat to the Western India as the region falls with in the range of nuclear weapons from China and Pakistan. The slow pace of development in the High tech industries will have a negative impact on employment and general prosperity exposing the industrial centres to economic security threats. Highlighting the societal, environmental threats to security Basrur said, "if Comprehensive Security has to be achieved then the state must be controlled. In short, democracy is an essential pre- requisite to human security". Prof. B.C. Upreti said that the security of Western India was not only threatened by a possible armed attack by Pakistan but also by the "unnatural and easily accessible" border that was misused for drug trafficking and migration. Information warfare by the Pakistani media against India affecting the psyche of people living in the border areas was another cause of concern noted by Prof Upreti in his presentation on `Comprehensive National Security Perspective in India: A View from Western Region'. Dr. Shrikant Paranjpe emphasised on setting up a SAARC Parliament for building political interaction amongst the South Asian countries in his paper on "Institutional Approaches to the Development of Order in South Asia: SAARC Parliament". Scholars from Northern India were more emphatic on internal dimensions of security giving place of primacy to the Security of the individual. In his paper on `Beyond Comprehensive Security: Human Security' Prof. Kanti Bajpai defined Comprehensive Security as a part of human security. Prof. Annapurna Nautiyal tried to explain the dilemmas of the newly created states in the Union of India. Highlighting the case of Uttaranchal she said, "a growing demand for creating new states is increasing because of the growing dissatisfaction and insecurity among the various segments of society". She emphasised on the close linkages between political power, economic growth and access to developmental opportunities in absence of which discontentment among people rises. Prof. Vandana Asthana surmised that `Comprehensive Security in India should accommodate three different levels of Security concerns: human security, internal security and governance and international security.' She highlighted issues of environment, economy, social inequality and governance in the northern states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The following issues were identified in the seminar as the central themes emerging from each region that together provided Comprehensive Security concerns of India : Eastern India's Perspectives on Comprehensive Security Issue of Identity Problem of Migration Issue of Social Fragmentation Southern Perspectives on Comprehensive National Security Issue of Governance and concern towards democratic decentralisation Economic Growth Western India's views on Comprehensive National Security Slow pace of Industrial Growth and its impact on society and economy North India's views on National Security Poverty Economic Backwardness Problems of Governance The Delhi Policy Group proposes to follow on these elements of Comprehensive National Security concerns. The Group attempts to encourage a wider participation by students, women, analysts, academics, government officials in the Comprehensive Security Dialogue at a national and regional level.