Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh officially released “RAKSHA,” a landmark document on defence diplomacy, during a special event at Kartavya Bhawan in New Delhi on September 3, 2026.
RAKSHA is a comprehensive strategic framework that outlines India’s roadmap and vision for global defence partnerships over the next decade. According to the Ministry of Defence, the document marks a shift in India’s strategic engagement, moving toward more proactive international cooperation while aligning national security objectives with global partnerships that foster long-term stability and mutual growth.
The Directorate of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence, described it on social media as setting a 10-year roadmap to strengthen global security partnerships, aimed at positioning India as both a key defence manufacturing hub and an anchor of regional stability.
The Four Pillars
The document rests on four core areas. The first is strategic partnerships, focused on deepening bilateral and multilateral security cooperation with partner nations. The second is capacity building, which involves enhancing joint military exercises, training programmes, and the sharing of best practices with friendly countries. The third pillar is indigenous exports, promoting Make-in-India defence platforms to establish the country as a reliable global hub for defence manufacturing. The fourth is maritime security, which centers on strengthening India’s role as a Net Security Provider and First Responder in the Indian Ocean Region.
Why It Matters
The Ministry frames defence diplomacy as a core pillar of India’s broader foreign policy. RAKSHA is meant to give that pillar a clear, actionable structure for the next ten years, one intended to keep India positioned as, in the government’s words, an anchor of peace, stability, and rule-based order amid a shifting global security landscape.
Who Was Present
The release was attended by top military and diplomatic leadership, including General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff; Rajesh Kumar Singh, Defence Secretary; Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production); and Rudrendra Tandon, Secretary (East) at the Ministry of External Affairs. Also present were Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, Vice Chief of the Air Staff; Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff; and Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, alongside senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs, and the National Security Council Secretariat.
Context: A Busy Week for Defence Diplomacy
The RAKSHA release came in the same week Rajnath Singh held talks with Belgium’s Defence and Trade Minister, Theo Francken, in New Delhi, a meeting that produced multiple MoUs and contracts under Defence Industrial Cooperation, underscoring the kind of bilateral engagement the new framework is designed to formalize and scale up.
