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.
It asks 2 things — 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 · Profit and self-reliance versus the value of human life: defence exports fund indigenous weapons, but a missile's harm outlives its sale.
Cover
- Opening: profit and self-reliance versus human life; India's 2020 aim of $5 billion in defence exports within five years.
- Stakeholders: BML and its workers, the Ministry, the buyer state and its people, India's neighbours, and taxpayers who funded the research.
- (a) Issues: profit versus life; peace versus market share (Ashoka's renunciation of violence after Kalinga); diversion; secrecy; the Minister's untested claim.
- (b) Five factors: end use and end user, the buyer's human-rights record, regional peace and India's security, legality, and diversion or terrorism.
- (b) Benchmarks: the Arms Trade Treaty's Article 7 test as a global yardstick; India in the Wassenaar Arrangement since 2017.
- My stand: bid only under government authorisation, an ethics-and-compliance review before every bid, and refusal where misuse is likely.
- Long-term: a board-level ethics committee, end-use monitoring with the Ministry, and export-control training for staff.
Close with · 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.
Add value (verified)
- Article 7 of the UN Arms Trade Treaty makes an exporting State assess, before authorising a sale, whether the arms would contribute to or undermine peace and security, or could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.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· 373words · Minimalist IAS
Profit and self-reliance versus the value of human life: defence exports, which India aimed in 2020 to raise to $5 billion, fund indigenous weapons, but a missile's harm outlives its sale.
Stakeholders
- BML and its workers; the Ministry; the buyer state and its people; neighbours; taxpayers who funded the research.
(a) Ethical issues in arms trade for a responsible nation
- Profit versus life: missiles may be turned on civilians or used for repression; no revenue justifies writing off victims as a business cost.
- Peace versus market share: sales may feed arms races or prolong wars; Ashoka, after the carnage of the Kalinga war, chose "to give up violence", and a nation proud of that legacy must ask where its weapons go.
- Diversion: re-export or leakage to terrorists, even against India's own forces.
- Secrecy versus accountability: opaque deals invite middlemen and kickbacks.
- Claim versus evidence: the Minister's claim of a good record for all arms-producing nations needs testing, not faith.
(b) Five ethical factors in deciding a sale
- Licence check
- End-user verification
- Rights and conflict test
- Diversion check
- Decide
- 1. End use and end user: verified certificates and a no-re-transfer undertaking.
- 2. The buyer's human-rights record: would it turn the weapon on its own people?
- 3. Regional peace and India's security: the buyer's conflicts and 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: would a sale undermine peace or facilitate serious violations of humanitarian law?
- 5. Diversion and terrorism: a Wassenaar Arrangement member since 2017, India shares its aim that transfers are not diverted or acquired by terrorists.
My stand as Chairman
- Now: I will plan the extra capacity but bid only under government authorisation, for stable, friendly states.
- Before every bid: an ethics-and-compliance review; I will decline where misuse is likely, even at a cost to revenue.
Long-term safeguards
- A board-level ethics committee, end-use monitoring with the Ministry and export-control training for staff, so conscience is built into BML's systems, not left to one Chairman.
Self-reliance is a legitimate goal, 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.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 1 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
