From Balakot to Sindoor: Inside the operations that made terror camps fair game

The strikes on Balakot in 2019 marked a clear shift. They followed the Pulwama attack, where forty CRPF personnel were killed. For the first time, Indian jets crossed deep into Pakistani territory to destroy a terrorist training camp. That operation set the stage for a bolder security doctrine.

Six years later came Operation Sindoor. In May 2025, after civilians were murdered in Pahalgam, India’s armed forces launched precision strikes. Drone and missile attacks destroyed nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, killing over a hundred terrorists. Among them were figures tied to the Pulwama bombing and the 1999 IC-814 hijacking. Pakistan’s retaliation faltered, its drones and missiles shot down by Indian counter-systems. From the Red Fort that August, Prime Minister Modi called it “a new normal,” signalling to the world that India would not hesitate again.

Drawing the boundaries with Pakistan
PM Modi has since laid out five unambiguous lines:

• Every terror attack will be answered decisively.
• Nuclear blackmail has no sway.
• Terrorists and their sponsors are treated as one.
• Talks, if ever, will only be about terrorism or Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“Terror and talks cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and blood and water cannot flow together.”

These words, repeated at rallies and addresses, frame a doctrine that mixes clarity with deterrence.

Building military muscle at home
Behind these actions stands a broader transformation. Defence spending rose from Rs 2.53 lakh crore in 2013–14 to Rs 6.81 lakh crore in 2025–26. Domestic production, once negligible, reached Rs 1.50 lakh crore in 2024–25, three times higher than a decade earlier. Today, fighter aircraft, artillery, missile systems, warships, and even aircraft carriers are designed and built in India. Defence exports touched Rs 23,622 crore in 2024–25, reaching over a hundred nations, including the United States, France, and Armenia.

The slogan of Atmanirbharta 'self-reliance' has been backed by policy. The Defence Acquisition Procedure of 2020 placed Indian design and manufacturing at the top of the order. The Make categories offered state support for prototypes and opened the field to start-ups and MSMEs. One hundred and forty-six projects have been cleared across the services. Foreign investment rules were relaxed, allowing 74 percent automatic investment and up to full ownership with approval in advanced technologies.

Transparency and joint ventures were encouraged too. The Offset Portal tracks commitments by foreign firms. The Strategic Partnership Model has paired Indian companies with global manufacturers. In 2019, an agreement with Russia allowed local production of spares, cutting delays and imports.

Technology as a force multiplier
Wars ahead will not be fought the way they once were. Anticipating this, the government created the Defence AI Council and the Defence AI Project Agency. Each public-sector defence unit now has its own AI roadmap. The Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO) has identified nine thrust areas, including cyber security, robotics, soldier support, and space systems.

The Sudarshan Chakra Mission, launched in 2025, aims to deliver a full-spectrum national security shield by 2035. Its focus: predictive technologies, precision responses, and indigenous systems that defend both the battlefield and civilian life.

Internal security tells another part of the story. Left-Wing Extremism once scarred large swathes of central India. Now, fewer than twenty districts remain affected. Over 8,000 Naxalites gave up arms in the past decade. The toll of violence shrank from 1,936 incidents in 2010 to just 374 in 2024, with civilian and security force deaths falling by 85 percent. New roads, schools, communication links, and welfare schemes helped weaken the insurgency’s grip alongside security operations.

Atmanirbharta beyond the military
Self-reliance is not limited to the armed forces. Food production rose from 246 million tonnes in 2013–14 to nearly 354 million tonnes in 2024–25. Farmers have received more than Rs 3.9 lakh crore under PM-KISAN. India now produces a quarter of the world’s milk and has doubled its fish output since 2013.

Financial inclusion has expanded dramatically. By March 2025, the RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index stood at 67.0, up almost a quarter since 2021. Through the Jan Dhan Yojana, 56 crore people opened accounts worth Rs 2.64 lakh crore. Women make up more than half of these account holders. The World Bank estimates that 89 percent of Indians now have a bank account.

Technology, too, has been pulled into the fold. The Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor mission announced in 2021 bore fruit with the launch of 3-nanometre chip design centres in Noida and Bengaluru. By 2025, India’s first indigenous chip was ready for production.

Put together, these strands form a coherent picture. India today is less willing to wait and more ready to act. Its security is rooted in homegrown capacity, decisive leadership, and a refusal to bow to threats. From Balakot to Sindoor, from food fields to chip foundries, the story is of a nation seeking control over its future rather than reliance on others. A decade on, the change is not just in numbers or hardware but in confidence.