MUMBAI, Jan 12: Union Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh today lamented the armed forces' preoccupation with internal security. ``It is a continuing characteristic of India and it troubles me a great deal,'' he said at the presentation of his book Defending India here. Singh was invited to speak after an invigorating panel discussion on the book.The technique of map-making does not do justice to the nation; it does not capture all that India is because ``India is not a desh, it's a darshan'', he said, paraphrasing writer Raja Rao. Since we are not merely a country but a civilisation with a pre-dominantly oral tradition of history, we do not have a sense of geography. This means there is ``an absence of a sense of territory and defending that territory'', he said, alluding to the fact that there are no maps pre-dating the British.This, he said, made him think in terms of a book on ``Defending India, defending the darshan''.The minister made a whistle-stop visit forthe occasion. Asked to comment on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's remarks and directives on international relations, Singh said it was ``a private visit'' and he did not want to make political comments. However, he did say that the Sena issue did not occupy the Union Cabinet and smiled when asked if Thackeray was defending India in some way.Industrialists Adi Godrej and Viren Shah, chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corporation Deepak Parekh, were present on the occasion.The panel discussion generated considerable interest. Chairperson J N Dixit, former foreign secretary, remarked that the book is unique in its sweep and should be made compulsory reading for all defence professionals and politicians. It does not define policy and is not a prescriptive book but is one that will galvanise national introspection on the subject, he said. ``The title `Defending India' says it all; it leaves the issue hanging,'' observed Dixit.However, Dixit took the opportunity to comment on the currentmilitary-civilian conflict arising out of the sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. Without taking names, he said nobody questions the superiority of the civilian authority but ``it is the execution of that authority within an institutional framework where the efficacy and morale of the armed forces are not challenged that is very important.'' Clearly, he was alluding to the fact that the execution of authority in the last few weeks left a lot to desire.Air Marshal S Kulkarni observed that India ``lacks a strategic culture'' and that the book attempts to find reasons for this.This is the first written work that talks of defence form a macro perspective and argues two vital points - an institutional framework for decision-making and the integration of military/armed forces therein. ``Fortunately, both processes have begun,'' he said.Professor B M Udgaonkar of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research lamented that nuclear discussions tend to be ``North-centric'', in that the five Western powers decideon something and label it as `the norm' without taking into account the considerations of developing countries. Further, they expect every country to fall in line. ``What is worse is that many of us here also think on those lines and call it the norm; it is nothing but intellectual colonialism,'' he said.
