By Akshat:
After Indian army’s surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistani territory, I could anticipate what was going to happen. I did not expect news channels to package shows with tickers like ’15 ways to achieve peace’. But I had expected innumerable trolls on social media. As the online community is expanding, these platforms have a huge role to play in shaping the way people in the country think. People online were saying things like, “Ek Engineer ko politician kya bana diya, Indian Army to Pakistan mei Counter Strike khel kar aa gayi.” (We made a single engineer a politician, and Indian Army went and played Counter Strike in Pakistan.)
However, citizens of neither countries know how the fundamentals of war work. There are many economic, political and social consequences. The war will cost both nations a lot. Even other factors like trade, resource availability and labour management come into play. What citizens of both the countries need to understand is, that the word ‘war’ cannot be used so casually. People think that by possessing one lakh guns and having a lousy tagline against terrorism, we will have Pakistan in our hands. If this is your understanding of war, it’s nothing short of amazing. Why do you glorify war when you don’t know the number of civilians that would end up in hospitals? How our economy will be ruined along with the manpower of the Indian Army and the Pakistani Army. The number of officers that will be ruined. Number of articles have shown that through excessive spending on the military, other key areas of human development are often ignored. Areas where investment is much needed are overlooked. Such as education, infrastructure and high-tech industries. The problem is that the effects of spending on army for war is not productive. Especially, when it is compared to the economic needs in other areas.
As long as military is used to protect borders and not wage war, it is fine. In the long run, war causes negative effects that make the economy bleed. With this, I’d like to rest my case. War is never a solution to any mutual conflict. It will cause extensive economic, social and political damage to the nation waging the war, as no nation can be free from its effect. The war could could carry on, draining all resources of India.
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