Two-front deterrence: India needs a strong stance against China, Pakistan

India needs clear deterrence against both likely adversaries. With China, it lies in raising costs of aggression to levels it should find unaffordable. For Pakistan, it has to be punitive

Two weeks back, we had raised questions about the decline in India’s defence budget as a percentage of both gross domestic product (GDP) and the national budget. We had then promised a second part talking about how to raise the resources to increase it to 2.5 per cent of GDP, from 1.9 per cent, over the next four years, and where to invest these additional funds. Donald Trump’s dramatic victory overtook events last week. That’s why the second part comes now.

 

We can start this story from the fateful night of December 9, 1971, at the peak of fighting in