Rajnath Singh Releases 'RAKSHA' Defence Diplomacy Document

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh released a document named RAKSHA in New Delhi on 3 September 2026. The document is about defence diplomacy. It lays out India's strategic roadmap and its vision for defence partnerships around the world for the next 10 years.

What the document changes

The release describes the document as a shift in the way India engages strategically. National security aims are tied to active cooperation with other countries. The purpose is long-term stability and growth for both sides of every partnership. Defence diplomacy is treated as a core pillar of India's foreign policy, and the document gives it a clear and workable vision for the coming decade.

The four pillars

• Strategic Partnerships: deepening security cooperation with single countries and with groups of countries.
• Capacity Building: more joint military exercises, more training programmes, and sharing of best practices with friendly nations.
• Indigenous Exports: pushing Make-in-India defence platforms so that the country becomes a dependable global hub for defence manufacturing.
• Maritime Security: strengthening India's part as a Net Security Provider and a First Responder in the Indian Ocean Region.

Quick table

Who attended

Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth was present. So were Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and Secretary, Defence Production, Sanjeev Kumar. Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Rudrendra Tandon, also attended. From the Air Force came Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, and from the Navy, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar. Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, was also there. Senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs and the National Security Council Secretariat attended the event. The mix of the guest list is itself a point to note: the document was released before the military leadership, the diplomatic establishment and the national security machinery together, which is what a diplomacy blueprint needs if it is to be carried out. The framework aims to keep India an anchor of peace, stability and rule-based order in a changing world.