Should Military Training Be Made Compulsory in India? 10 Pros and Cons

Table of Contents

Introduction:

Should military training be made compulsory in India? It has been a topic of debate for a long time. Military training is compulsory in some countries, like Israel and Norway.

In our country, military training is provided in the form of the National Cadet Corps, or NCC. But this training is not mandatory for everyone. It’s just voluntary participation. Any student who has an interest voluntarily joins the NCC. Seeing our relationship with our neighbouring countries, some people suggest that it should be made mandatory in India.

Should military training be made compulsory in India? NO

Waste of money: India is a developing country. The money spent on compulsory military training can be used for other projects like education, healthcare, and providing jobs.
Education is more important. In a country like India, where several children cannot afford to go to school, compulsory military training will be a complete mismanagement of money. The same money could be used to improve the education facilities in our county.
Very expensive for large populations: Those countries where military training is compulsory have very few populations. But this is not the case with India. We have the second-largest population in the world. It will be very expensive to provide military training to all its citizens.
We already have one of the largest armed forces in the world, which can be used in times of war. Apart from the army, navy, and air force, we have paramilitary forces like the BSF, CRPF, etc. They can be used in times of need.
India already provides voluntary military training in the form of the National Cadet Corps (NCC). Which is already one of the largest voluntary training programmes in the world.

If a country provides arms training to the youth and does not provide them employment, they will get involved in crimes of a severe nature.
Everyone is not physically and mentally fit to carry out military training. The training involves a lot of risk of causality. Many healthy youths may suffer serious injuries or lose their lives during training.
There will be additional pressure on the government to compensate these injured and diseased It will cause an extra and unnecessary burden on the country.
In our country, people of different faiths live together. The people who belong to Buddhism and Jainism practice complete non-violence. Forcing them to hold guns and practice killing to overpower someone will be completely against their religion and undemocratic as well.
Ours is a democratic country; the basis of democracy is not to force a choice on someone but to let the people decide about the choice they want to make.
Recently, the Government of India launched the Agnipath Scheme. As per the scheme, the regular armed forces will first be recruited for only four years. After that, only 25% will be made permanent, and the rest of 75% will be sent back to lead a civilian life. This way, we can train a large chunk of our population.
If the trained youth does not get employment opportunities, he may follow the wrong path of criminal activity. A trained youth will find it very difficult to be caught by the police or law-enforcing authorities. Recently, the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated by a young, unemployed naval soldier with a homemade gun.
So, the answer to the question, Should military training be made compulsory in India? ends in negation.

Should military training be made compulsory in India? YES

Earlier, there was a view that the 21^st century was not an era of conventional warfare. But the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s attack on Gaza have completely changed the point of view. It shows that we need to be ready for any war at any time.
It will promote national unity. When citizens from different parts of the country are trained together, like armed forces, they will be free from the narrow feelings of caste, religion, and region.
The way society is divided into these lines, there is a need to teach the youth of our country about feelings of brotherhood and nationalism. Military training can make this possible.
Compulsory military training will make the citizens physically and mentally strong.

We all know that India has hostile neighbours. During a situation of war, trained citizens can protect the country.
During natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, etc., trained citizens can help others and save many lives.
India will always have a reserve force ready for an emergency.
India has hostile neighbours in the form of Pakistan and China. In 1962, all of a sudden, China attacked India. So, the people of border regions should especially be militarily trained to face any situation.
These days, the youth of today follow a sedentary lifestyle. They like to spend a lot of time on their mobile phones or computers. Also, there is a growing fast food culture among youth. Military training will make them physically fit.
During the process of training, these youth also learn social service skills like creating awareness about child marriage and visiting orphanages or old-age homes. These activities do indeed make them good citizens.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, regarding the topic, should military training be made compulsory in India? We can say that compulsory military training may not be required in a big country like India. The reserve force can be formed by strengthening the NCC (National Cadet Corps), which is open to schools and colleges voluntarily.