Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan outlined a national ambition for India to stand among the foremost powers globally, driven, he said, not by any desire to impose its will on others, but by the goal of remaining free from external pressure or foreign-imposed conditions. Speaking on Monday to the 66th National Defence College course in New Delhi under the theme of India's core values, national interests, and national objectives, Radhakrishnan conveyed that national strategy converts national purpose and intent into concrete, measurable outcomes, and that while every nation holds its own targets, the methods pursued toward those ends are shaped by the principles and values that nation upholds.
Framing the Viksit Bharat @ 2047 initiative as a guiding reference point for the country's trajectory, the Vice President urged that extended planning efforts be anchored in honest appraisals of available resources, carefully weighed policy choices, and a well-defined understanding of where national effort is directed. Pointing to the principle that every nation — whether large or small in stature — warrants the same degree of respect, he argued that no state holds the right to cross into another's recognised borders.
Speaking to the constitutional foundations that guide the country's direction, Radhakrishnan put forward the view that India's national interests are rooted in the values enshrined in its constitution — among them sovereignty, democracy, secularism, justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, and the preservation of national unity and territorial integrity.
Five broad areas formed the backbone of his stated agenda: protecting the nation's borders and territorial wholeness; upholding its governance as a democracy, secular state, and federal union; pursuing goals spanning strategy, politics, the economy, and defence; fostering the conditions needed for steady growth and human welfare; and playing a constructive role in global peace and stability.
Radhakrishnan pointed to the growing entanglement of national security concerns across borders, urging countries to work in concert against shared threats — among them terrorism, cyber attacks, pandemics, climate change, and transnational crime. Defending the wider national interest, he argued, calls for nations to look beyond the limits of their own domains — a posture that makes protecting home-country priorities and advancing shared global goals less a contradiction than a reinforcing pair, held together by coordinated effort, open channels of information, and trust built across borders.
Drawn from the armed forces, civil services, police, and various other government bodies, the 122 enrolled personnel span both domestic institutions and 41 officers representing partner nations abroad. Addressing present-day security threats, the Vice President put forward the case for joined-up policymaking, long-range strategic thinking, and collaboration across national borders.
