India has faced traditional military and non-traditional threats to its security that have emerged from within as well as outside its borders. Its security strategy has four broad components : 

1. To Strengthen its Military Capa¬bilities: Because: 

(a) India has been involved in a conflict with its neighbors, as Pakistan in 1947-48,1965,1971 and 1999 and China in 1962. 

(b) In the South Asian Region, India is surrounded by nuclear-armed countries. Hence, India’s decision to conduct nuclear test in 1990 was justified to safeguard national security. 

(c) India first tested nuclear device in 1974. 

2. To Strengthen International Norms and International Institutions: 

(a) India’s first Prime Minister J.L. Nehru supported Asian solidarity, disarmament, decolonization and the UN as a forum to settle down the international conflict. 

(b) India took initiatives to bring about a universal and non- discriminatory non-proliferation regime to enjoy same rights and obligations with respect to weapons of mass destruction. 

(c) It used non-alignment to help to carve out an area of place outside the blocs. 

(d) India signed Kyoto Protocol in 1997 to be a part of roadmap for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases to check global warming. 

3. To Meet Security Challenges within the Country: 

(a) Several militant groups from areas such as Nagaland, Mizoram, Punjab, Kashmir have sought to break away from India. 

(b) India makes efforts to preserve national unity by adopting a democratic political system by providing freedom of speech and expression along with the right to vote. 

4. To Develop its Economy: 

(a) India develops the way to lift the vast mass of citizens out of poverty, misery and huge economic inequalities. 

(b) A democratically elected government is supposed to combine economic growth with human development without any demarcation between the rich and the poor.