Leaders should know capability, limits of forces: President

The political leadership and senior civil servants of a democracy must be conversant with the capabilities and limits of the defence forces, President Pranab Mukherjee said Monday.

Each country is guided in its actions by its national interests and objectives. The power relationships are constantly changing, and unless a country understands and adjusts itself to the changes that are taking place around it, its own security will be seriously endangered, Mukherjee told faculty and course members of the 53rd National Defence College Course when they called on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

He said: "Security today has many dimensions as it encompasses economic, energy, food, health, environmental and many other dimensions of security".

The success of any nation state depends on how effectively it harnesses all the available resources at its disposal, foremost among these being the human resource, he said.

"In a democratic system like ours, various organs of the state must understand the strengths and limitations of each other. Political leadership and senior civil services officers must be conversant with the capabilities and limitations of the defence forces," the president said.

"Similarly, armed forces officers need to understand the limitations and constitutional framework under which the political set-up and the civil services function. However, both of them should be aware of the larger perspective of national security in order to take informed decisions of vital importance," he said.