Strengthening the integrity, stability and national security of our nation has been one of the topmost and non-negotiable priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After assuming office as the 15th Prime Minister of India, he took upon himself to work on the historically neglected avenue of national security. Underlining the need for an impenetrable national security, he took reformative actions on multiple facets encompassing internal as well external security of the nation, including border related aspects, coastal security, threats from extremism and cross border infiltration, counter terrorism, cyber security issues, all while simultaneously striving towards excellence in modern military technologies along with giving impetus towards expanding military exports.

It is because of the government’s nine years of unprecedented military reforms and modernisation that India today boasts of being world's second largest military armed with state of the art weapons & platforms. Today India has attained Aatmanirbharta in naval capabilities with made in India ships and submarines, and army is now equipped with indigenous weapons and artillery as an outcome of the Make in India initiative. During its nine years of governance, India’s defence expenditure has been doubled to Rs. 6.23 lakh crore in 2023-24 as compared to Rs. 3.17 lakh crore in 2014-15. Since its inception, the government’s actions to counter terrorism, left wing extremism and stopping the menace of drugs and narcotics have also borne fruit.

To fulfil the dream of one nation, one constitution, the government abrogated Article 370 and 35A and extended all the central laws to J&K, putting J&K into the same footing as the rest of India. With a tactful implementation of operations like Hot Pursuit, Surgical Strike and Balakot Strike, the government’s zero tolerance approach towards terrorism has also been immensely successful. Due to the government's continuous intervention, record investment of Rs. 1547.87 crore has been received by J&K during 2022-23, moving the state on the path of peace, progress and prosperity.

Another area where the government has given great emphasis is the fight against Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Under the leadership of PM Modi, the government has made a three-pronged policy to deal with LWE – relentless approach to curb extremist violence, better coordination between centre and state and development through public participation, and ending support for left wing extremism. This strategy has yielded historic success in containing left wing extremism in the last nine years and improving the law & order situation, with violent incidents related to LWE coming down by 76% in 2022 in comparison to 2010.

The government has been a continuous proponent of Nasha Mukt Bharat. To tackle drug related issues and to make people aware of this menace, multiple initiatives in 372 most vulnerable districts have been launched by the government, and further 340 integrated rehabilitation centres and 46 addiction treatment facilities have been set-up. The success of governments’ efforts can be witnessed from the fact that there has been a 222% increase in drug smuggling related arrests since 2014.

The government has time and again raised the issues related to cyber bullying, harassment and crime by making cyber security as one of the topmost priorities. To tackle this, the government has taken multiple efforts such as establishment of National Cyber Coordination Centre, launch of Cyber Forensic-cum-Training Laboratories commissioned in 33 States and UTs, setting up of a National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and launch of Tollfree number ‘1930’ to lodge cyber complaints .

The government has made landmark progress underscoring the crucial role of our army and police personnel in maintaining the safety and security of the nation and its citizens. The government in order to transform these services has worked on several avenues. Agnipath scheme has been launched to attain a more youthful and diverse profile of the armed forces. Rs 26,275 crore has been approved for the year 2021-26 in order to modernise the police force. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) have been deployed in police stations of all states, and safe city projects have been sanctioned in 8 cities for using technology to aid policing and safety management.

The government for the past few years has been doing consistent work towards strengthening and reinforcing the defence ecosystem of our nation. Amongst its several initiatives include creation of the Department of Military Affairs to oversee reforms, creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff for greater integration among the three Services, and regrouping of 41 Ordnance Factories under 7 DPSUs, for better oversight and management.

The government is making it an imperative to give greater push towards ‘Make in India’, and to achieve this, priority has been given to procurement of capital items from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020. Not only that, 75% of the capital budget has been earmarked for domestic firms in this year’s budget, and 25% of the defence R&D budget earmarked for industry, startups and academia. To give further encouragement to domestic manufacturing, establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors, one each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, has been done. Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme has also been launched to involve startups & MSMEs in defence innovation.

The results of the government's policies and reforms can be assessed by the landmark achievements witnessed by the nation in the past few years. The expenditure on defence procurement from foreign sources has reduced from 46% in 2018-19 to 36.7% in 2022. There has been a 10-fold increase in defence exports since 2016-17, reaching an all-time high of Rs 16,000 crore in 2022-23. The value of defence production in the country has crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the first time ever in 2022-23.

India believes in the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’, which has been very actively adopted by PM Modi, as witnessed by the success of recent government endeavours. Today the Indian government has been lauded by its global counterparts for showing utmost compassion and providing humanitarian aid to the world during the COVID crisis. Be it supplying more than 29 crore+ vaccine doses through Vaccine Maitri, providing drugs, test-kits and protective gear worth approx Rs. 100 crore on grant basis, programmes for delivering Covid-related training for healthcare professionals in SAARC countries, or various rescue operations such as Operation Dost in Turkey, Vande Bharat Mission to bring home 3.2 crore Indian nationals stranded overseas during the pandemic and Operation Ganga to evacuate around 22,500 Indian people from Ukraine, PM Modi and his government has changed the face of India’s foreign policy.

From undertaking unprecedented efforts in making India self reliant to boosting its defence exports, from fighting the menace of extremism and terrorism to helping the world in crisis through various operations, the government under PM Modi has never shied away from being at the forefront and accepting the challenges thrown at it. Today, as a result, India’s stature has become much more pronounced and pivotal in the world stage.