Description
Manohar HIV/AIDS as a Security Threat to India (RCSS Policy Studies 28) by Happymon Jacob
Published in association with Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo HIV/AIDS is rapidly spreading to the general population and rural areas of India with more infections occurring in the countrys villages today. Even an intermediate figure between the highest and the lowest claims would mean that there are around seven to eight million HIV/AIDS infections in the country. HIV/AIDS threatens Indias security for various reasons. In a highly competitive international trading system that is rapidly emerging in the global arena, HIV/AIDS can and will deter investments, investors and business opportunities. HIV/AIDS can also slow down the flow of foreign direct investment into India, create problems for Indias foreign trade, affect household economy and savings, put additional budget and other burdens on the health sector, and deprive other patients going to hospitals of treatment. The disease can also adversely affect sectors such as IT, tourism, and transportation. HIV/AIDS can also impact, this book argues, Indias bilateral relations, its peacekeeping operations abroad and policing within the country. Note surprisingly, HIV/AIDS could become a security threat, particularly for a country like India because of three compelling factors: poverty, ignorance about the disease, and widespread social stigma attached to the disease. Whereas one factor itself or in combination with the disease can be dangerous, India, unfortunately, is faced with the interplay of all these three factors. Moreover, Indias numerous AIDS orphans may eventually become social outcasts who would then turn to anti-social activities; social institutions like the family and marriage could lose their sanctity; and marital discords and distrusts could eventually develop as the epidemic spreads far and wide. More importantly, even if there is a cure for AIDS, the impending HIV/AIDS scenario in the country is unlikely to have any radical changes as poor households would not be able to buy the much n