Over the years, the Indian Army has been engaged in two important roles: external defence and the maintenance of internal security. As the Army’s emphasis has shifted from the latter to the former its structure and organization has changed; for structure and strategic role are immutably interlinked. New equipment has made the army more mobile, it is stationed primarily in forward positions, and recruitment is no longer based upon political loyalty. In recent years the reduction of the police role of the military has been hastened by the creation of quasi-military state and central armed police forces, and border security forces, all of which serve as a buffer between routine domestic civil unrest and the army itself. Yet, there is a ‘third role’ played by the armed services in India, a role as important as external defence and internal security. This role is the ‘non-military’ use of the military, the impact of the military (and particularly the army) on civilian society. This impact does not have to be conscious or deliberate to be significant. It is interesting that virtually no attention has been paid to this third role of the military. From time to time the military itself will describe with pride some ‘aid to the civil’ operation in which it participates, in flood or famine relief, or some similar venture. Yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg, the visible portion of a very complex and extended relationship. The military has always had a much broader relationship by virtue of its recruitment from society, the feedback of trained and disciplined soldiers and officers, and its symbolization of local, regional and national traditions and values. From time to time Indian politicians have expressed an interest in the nonmilitary use of the military, both before independence and afterwards. Gandhi, for example, expressed the view that the military virtues of loyalty, unity, discipline, and efficiency should be employed during peacetime, and the entire military establishment employed for constructive economic and social programmes. More recently, Jawaharlal Nehru (as Prime Minister) was somewhat more specific:

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印度军事和社会变革

多年来，印度陆军一直扮演着两个重要的角色：对外防御和维护内部安全。随着陆军的重点从后者转移到前者，其结构和组织发生了变化；因为结构和战略作用是不可改变的相互关联的。新装备使军队更具机动性，主要驻扎在前沿阵地，招募不再基于政治忠诚。近年来，通过建立准军事国家和中央武装警察部队以及边境安全部队，加速了军队警察角色的减少，所有这些部队都充当国内日常动乱与军队本身之间的缓冲。 . 然而，印度的武装部队还扮演着“第三种角色”，其重要性与外部防御和内部安全同等重要。这个角色是军队的“非军事”使用，军队（尤其是军队）对平民社会的影响。这种影响不一定是有意识的或有意的。有趣的是，几乎没有人注意到军队的第三个角色。有时，军队本身会自豪地描述它参与的一些“对民间的援助”行动，在洪水或饥荒救济中，或一些类似的冒险。然而，这只是冰山一角，是一段非常复杂和延伸的关系的可见部分。由于从社会招募、训练有素、训练有素的士兵和军官的反馈以及它象征着地方、地区和国家的传统和价值观，军队一直有着更广泛的关系。在独立之前和之后，印度政客不时表达了对非军事用途军队的兴趣。例如，甘地表示，在和平时期应该运用忠诚、团结、纪律和效率等军事美德，整个军事机构都应该用于建设性的经济和社会计划。最近，贾瓦哈拉尔·尼赫鲁（作为总理）更具体一些：