The Chairman of Bharat Missiles Ltd (BML) was watching a program on TV wherein the Prime Minister was addressing the nation on the necessity of developing a self-reliant India. He subconsciously nodded in agreement and smiled to himself as he mentally reviewed BML’s journey in the past two decades. BML had admirably progressed from producing first generation anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) to designing and producing state of the art ATGM weapon systems that would be the envy of any army. He sighed in reconciliation with his assumptions that the government would probably not alter the status quo of a ban on export of military weaponry.
To his surprise, the very next day he got a telephone call from the Director General, Ministry of Defence, asking him to discuss the modalities of increasing BML production of ATGMs as there is a possibility of exporting the same to a friendly foreign country. The Director General wanted the Chairman to discuss the details with his staff at Delhi next week.
Two days later, at a press conference, the Defence Minister stated that he aims to double the current weapons export levels within five years. This would give an impetus to financing the development and manufacture of indigenous weapons in the country. He also stated that all indigenous arms manufacturing nations have a very good record of international arms trade.
As Chairman of BML, what are your views on the following points? (a) As an arms exporter of a responsible nation like India, what are the ethical issues involved in arms trade? (b) List five ethical factors that would influence the decision to sell arms to foreign governments.
Approach · directive: “what are your views / list”
What it asks · (a) Name the ethical issues in arms trade for India as a responsible nation; (b) list five ethical factors that should shape the decision to sell arms to a foreign government.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- (a) As Chairman of BML, set out the ethical issues in arms trade for an exporter from a responsible nation
- (b) List five ethical factors that would influence a decision to sell arms to foreign governments
Open with · Arms exports can fund self-reliance and strengthen partners, but weapons cause harm long after the sale, so the trade needs clear ethical filters.
Cover
- (a) Issues: risk of arms being used against civilians or for human rights abuses, fuelling conflict or an arms race, and diversion to non-state actors or re-export.
- (a) More issues: profit and jobs versus the value of life, the State's duty of self-reliance and security, and secrecy and corruption in defence deals.
- (a) Consistency: as a responsible nation with a tradition of peace and non-violence, India's exports must match its stated values, not only its interests.
- (b) Five factors: end use and end-user assurance; buyer's human-rights record; effect on peace and India's security; legal and UN embargo compliance; risk of diversion.
- (b) Benchmark: the UN Arms Trade Treaty asks whether arms would undermine peace, breach humanitarian or human rights law, or aid terrorism or organised crime.
- My stand as Chairman: welcome exports only under government licence, with end-use undertakings and an internal ethical review, and refuse where misuse is likely.
- Balance: exports fund research and self-reliance and support friendly partners, which is a legitimate gain; ethics limits how, and to whom, we sell.
Close with · Arms exports can be ethical if licensed, transparent and refused where misuse is likely; national interest and human dignity must be weighed together.
Add value (verified)
- Article 7 of the UN Arms Trade Treaty makes an exporting State assess, before authorising a sale, whether the arms would undermine peace and security or be used for serious violations of humanitarian or human rights law, or for terrorism or organised crime. The Arms Trade Treaty, Article 7 (Export and Export Assessment), United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs ↗“assess the potential that the conventional arms or items: (a) would contribute to or undermine peace and security; (b) could be used to: (i) commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”
- At DefExpo 2020 (Lucknow, 5 February 2020) the Prime Minister noted defence exports of Rs 17,000 crore in the previous two years and set an aim of 5 billion dollars of exports in the next five years. Prime Minister inaugurates DefExpo in Lucknow — PIB, Prime Minister's Office, 5 February 2020 ↗“In the last two years India has exported defence products worth Rs 17000 crores. Now our aim is to increase Defence Exports to 5 Bn Dollars in the next five years”
- India formally joined the Wassenaar Arrangement on export controls for conventional arms and dual-use goods on 8 December 2017. India becomes 42nd WA Participating State, 8 Dec. 2017 — The Wassenaar Arrangement ↗“completed the exchange of letters on 8 December 2017 in Vienna with the 2017 Plenary Chair of the Wassenaar Arrangement, Ambassador Jean-Louis Falconi of France, formalising India’s membership of the Wassenaar Arrangement.”
- Wassenaar participating states seek to ensure that arms transfers do not enhance destabilising capabilities, are not diverted, and do not reach terrorists. About us — The Wassenaar Arrangement ↗“Participating States seek, through their national policies, to ensure that transfers of these items do not contribute to the development or enhancement of military capabilities which undermine these goals, and are not diverted to support such capabilities. The aim is also to prevent the acquisition of these items by terrorists.”
- Gandhi's Young India (22 October 1925) printed seven social sins, among them 'politics without principle' and 'commerce without morality'. Seven Social Sins — mkgandhi.org (Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation) ↗“Seven Social Sins Politics without Principle Wealth Without Work Pleasure Without Conscience Knowledge without Character Commerce without Morality Science without Humanity Worship without Sacrifice - Young India, 22-10-1925”
- Kant's Humanity Formulation of the categorical imperative: never treat humanity, in oneself or others, as a means only, but always as an end in itself. Kant's Moral Philosophy — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“This formulation states that we should never act in such a way that we treat humanity, whether in ourselves or in others, as a means only but always as an end in itself.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 379 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
In February 2020 India set a target of $5 billion in defence exports within five years, after exports worth ₹17,000 crore in the previous two. For BML's Chairman the opportunity has a moral weight: a weapon's harm outlives the sale.
Stakeholders
- BML and its workforce; the Ministry of Defence; the buyer state and its people; India's neighbours; taxpayers who funded the research.
(a) Ethical issues in arms trade for a responsible nation
- Harm to life: missiles may be used against civilians or in internal repression. Kant's rule to treat humanity "always as an end in itself" forbids writing off victims as a cost of business.
- Escalation: sales may feed arms races or prolong wars, against India's tradition of restraint.
- Diversion: re-export or leakage to terrorists, possibly against India's own forces.
- Profit against principle: revenue pulls toward every sale, and opaque deals invite middlemen; Gandhi's Young India (1925) counted commerce without morality among seven social sins.
- Consistency: the Minister's claim that all arms-producing nations have clean trade records must be tested, not assumed.
(b) Five ethical factors in deciding a sale
- 1. End use and end user: verified certificates and a no-re-transfer undertaking.
- 2. The buyer's human-rights record: its likely use of the weapon against its own people.
- 3. Regional peace and India's security: the buyer's conflicts and its ties with hostile powers.
- 4. Legality: a government export licence, UN embargoes, and, as a global benchmark, the Arms Trade Treaty's Article 7 test of whether a sale would undermine peace or facilitate serious violations of humanitarian law.
- 5. Diversion and terrorism: as a Wassenaar Arrangement member since 2017, India shares its aim that transfers are not diverted to destabilising ends and that terrorists do not acquire such items.
My stand as Chairman
- Export only under government authorisation, to stable and friendly states; set up an internal ethics-and-compliance review before any bid; decline a sale where misuse is likely, even at a cost to revenue.
Self-reliance in defence is a legitimate national goal, and exports help fund it. But a responsible nation sells arms as it would want them used: under licence, in daylight, and never to those who would turn them on the defenceless.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.