Since India’s independence in 1947, it has been described as short-sighted in its strategic approach. George Tanham of the RAND Corporation famously postulated in 1992 that the country lacked a strategic culture, apparently because it had never faced an “existential threat”. Clearly, Tanham was unaffected by six centuries of repeated invasions from Central Asia, or by Timur’s bloody sack of Delhi in 1398, or by 200 years of British colonial rule that reduced India from prosperity to penury Was. Yet, it is true that, without a long-term, national security strategy formulated by India’s political leadership, the country tackles even its most pressing security challenges, such as its China policy, with blatant disregard for their implications. .
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