Viksit Bharat Must Confront Non Traditional Security Threats

India’s ambition to become a Viksit Bharat by 2047 is not merely an economic target; it is a civilisational declaration. It envisions a nation that is technologically advanced, socially cohesive, environmentally sustainable and a consequential force on the global stage. However, as we calibrate our growth trajectory, a category of threats that receives far less strategic attention than it deserves, quietly shadows every milestone we set. These non-traditional security threats have the real capability to derail India’s developmental journey and are widely underestimated.Unlike conventional threats, these do not arrive with tanks crossing borders or missiles and drones streaking through the sky. They emerge through cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, hate and misinformation campaigns that fracture social cohesion, pandemics that collapse healthcare systems, climate-induced disasters, water scarcity and cascading failures in global supply chains. In the 21st century, a nation’s security is no longer measured solely by the strength of its armed forces but also by the resilience of its institutions, economy and social fabric.Covid-19 was the most consequential reminder of what a nano-sized pathogen can do to a world order, built on interconnectedness. It brought global economies to a standstill, reversed decades of developmental gains and exposed vulnerabilities in public health infrastructure, urban planning and migrant welfare; all within the span of only two years. India’s response demonstrated remarkable institutional strength; rapid scaling of vaccine production, CoWIN platform and large-scale welfare interventions were globally acknowledged. But the gaps exposed, were equally glaring. These vulnerabilities cannot be treated as footnotes. They are strategic fault lines.India’s digital transformation is arguably, its most celebrated achievements. The Digital Public Infrastructure; Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, DigiYatra and ABHA, has become a global benchmark. However, digitisation inevitably expands the attack surface. State-sponsored actors, cybercriminal syndicates and hacktivist groups exploit this expanded terrain with increasing sophistication. Attacks on the AIIMS Delhi servers and Mumbai’s power grid are not isolated incidents but are harbingers of what targeted cyber warfare against a digitally dependent economy can unleash. Add to this, the disturbing rise of Digital Arrests targeting the elderly and Boss Scams defrauding working professionals and the picture becomes stark; cybersecurity is no longer an IT concern, it is a pillar of national security. Investments in indigenous cyber capabilities, quantum-resistant encryption and public-private cooperation are no longer optional.The climate crisis is routinely framed as an environmental challenge. It is, in fact, a grave and compounding security threat. India ranks among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. Erratic monsoons, glacial retreat in the Himalayas, recurrent cyclones on East-West coasts, heat waves in northern plains and endemic droughts in central India are not distant projections; they are stark realities. A recent Nature Sustainability report delivered a particularly alarming finding: Five Indian megacities, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, are sinking by over four mm per year, primarily due to groundwater overextraction. This puts the critical infrastructure like metros, roads, skyscrapers, all at risk. For a nation where millions depend on climate-sensitive livelihoods, each environmental shock widens inequality, fuels migration and destabilises communities. Sustainable infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, and water security must be treated as strategic imperatives, not developmental luxuries.Among the most insidious non-traditional threats is the weaponisation of information. Social media platforms have democratised voice but they have also become potent instruments of hate campaigns, disinformation and psychological manipulation. India’s diversity, its greatest civilisational strength, also makes it susceptible to narratives engineered to inflame fault lines. Development demands social stability, institutional trust and collective confidence. Misinformation corrodes all three. Building resilience here requires digital literacy at scale, responsible platform governance, robust fact-checking mechanisms and a citizenry equipped to navigate an information ecosystem designed, partially, to mislead.The post-pandemic supply chain turbulence, Russia-Ukraine war, China’s exports restrictions on permanent earth magnets and critical minerals and the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz have collectively rewritten the rules of economic security. India’s developmental ambitions depend on sustained access to energy, semiconductors and advanced technology. Dependence on external sources for these critical inputs is a strategic vulnerability. The green energy transition presents both opportunity and new dependencies. The imperative is clear: technology and energy sovereignty, diversified supply chains and domestic manufacturing capacity must become as central to national security planning as defence preparedness.The complexity of non-traditional threats exposes the limitations of conventional bureaucratic silos. Threats that cut across health, energy, finance, urban governance and digital infrastructure cannot be managed by any single ministry or agency. What is needed is a whole-of-government and whole-of-society framework; one in which Union ministries, state governments, local bodies, the private sector, academia, civil society and citizens function as integrated nodes in a national resilience system. India has demonstrated this capacity in the past also, in its digital governance revolution, disaster response frameworks and response to the pandemic. The next step is to institutionalise resilience as a core principle of every developmental initiative and not simply an afterthought. Be pro-active rather than reactive.History is unambiguous on this point; nations fail not solely because of external aggressions, but also because internal vulnerabilities, if left unaddressed, compound until they become existential. India’s journey to Viksit Bharat will be powered by economic dynamism, demographic strength and technological innovation. But these strengths must be actively protected. The challenge before our policymakers is not merely to accelerate development but also, how to secure it.In a VUCA world — Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous — the nations that lead the 21st century will not simply be those with the largest economies or the strongest militaries. They will be those with the greatest resilience. For India, resilience is not a contingency plan. It must become the foundational architecture of Viksit Bharat itself.(The views expressed are personal)This article is authored by Amitabh Ranjan, registrar, Indian Institute of Public Administration.