Inspite of a strong desire of Independent India, to remain a peace loving nation, with no military ambitions, the reality has been the opposite. Kashmir, Hyderabad and Goa had to become a military involvement for the consolidation of the Nation. Wars with Pakistan and one with China, put the Nation's security at risk. In each and every one of the conflicts the services stood out as the real protectors of sovereignty. And every time it transpired that the government of the time had not issued a written directive for the conduct of the operation. Even for the intervention in Sri Lanka, in the shape of Indian Peace Keeping Force, there was no written directive.

The imperative debate on the subject, in which even the well known foreign defence and security analysts participated, it has been established that there does not exist a cohesive National Security Policy, which was attributed to a lack of strategic precepts of National interests. The past decade has thus seen a serious debate and half hearted attempts for the creation of National Security Organisation which would fill the voids in this extremely important aspect of National Policy making. The present government ultimately established a National Security Council after a committee, established by it, had produced a paper, giving it's recommendations. However, the well considered recommendations were not totally implemented and the organisation setup gave the impression of being flawed. A National Security Advisory Board was created and about 30 members appointed. Working in sub-committees this board has been attempting to formulate concepts concerning all aspects of National Security Interests. The draft Nuclear Policy concept was released on 17th August 1999 and has been the subject of much controversy.

National Security Papers, authored by Lt. Col. Thakur Kuldip S. Ludra, Deputy Director Strategic Research Centre, Chandigarh is a collection of articles/essays covering various aspects of National Security. Consequently there is a fair amount of repetition, as well as lack of cohesiveness, which tends to disturb the flow and make for heavy reading.

The author has put his finger correctly on many vital issues and highlighted the lack of adequate thought having been given to them by the political leadership and the implementing bureaucracy. A strong thread that comes through is the fact that lack of knowledge and experience of matters military compounded by an imaginary fear that the defence forces may take over in a coup, has resulted in ham handed and even ignorant handling of strategic issues. The self serving nexus between the political and bureaucratic entities, in the nation, have resulted in the failure to access the long term damage to the nation due to the lack of knowledge, lack of desire to learn and set the matters right and, therefore, gain vitally needed experience.

The essays have a flavour in them. They cover a lot of ground and are academically educative. To the unitiated, this is a good reading exercise, to those who deal with the issues covered on a ongoing basis, the essays/papers, there can be the effect of losing interest after a while. That the essay/papers have a central theme which repeats itself too often, could become counter productive. However, it would be very worthwhile exercise to persist and go through the book.

It is in this context that this book is useful for study by those interested in National Security and the ongoing debate by the think tanks and NGO's on this subject. In particular, it would be most useful reading for the defence services who are involved in all issues concerning external and internal aspects of National Security. The premier trading institutions of the defence services and those to the bureaucracy would gain tremendously by the study and analysis. The corporate sector too needs to get involved as prosperity, growth and peace are so closely involved with National Security.

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