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41st anniversary of The Times of India, Bengaluru: City of quiet power

41st anniversary of The Times of India, Bengaluru: City of quiet power

Time of India2 days ago
As India charges ahead into a future that will be driven by technology, innovation, and self-reliance in defence, Bengaluru stands firmly at the centre of this transformation.
When TOI first came to the city in 1984, Bengaluru was often seen as the charming 'Garden City' or a quiet 'Pensioners' Paradise'.
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But today, it's so much more — a dynamic powerhouse that plays a crucial role in shaping India's economy, strengthening its security, advancing its space ambitions, and boosting its global presence.
From the blueprints of cuttingedge fighter jets to the algorithms that could shape the next wave of artificial intelligence (AI), from satellite launches that beam signals across continents to policy think tanks that help steer the nation's democratic machinery — Bengalu-ru's fingerprints are everywhere.
And TOI has been around to mark each of these milestones, sometimes documenting and celebrating multiple transformations simultaneously.
For decades, Bengaluru has been India's go-to city for software services, drawing global giants like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Google to establish sprawling campuses in its ever-expanding tech corridors, but the city's real strategic heft lies not merely in IT services, but in its growing role in shaping sovereign technologies.
This distinction has become even more pronounced in the post-pandemic, post-Galwan world, where India has recalibrated its internal strengths in light of external vulnerabilities. Technology is no longer a soft sector. It is national infrastructure, and Bengaluru is a key place where this infrastructure is imagined, tested and deployed.
Indeed, the sheer density of defence and dual-use technology institutions in Bengaluru is staggering.
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For instance, HAL manufactures fighter jets and helicopters that power India's air defences, and is actively getting into rocket building. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) produces advanced radars, electronic warfare systems and communication networks for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is developing the Tejas Mk-2 and AMCA, India's nextgeneration fighters, while the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) delves into autonomy and machine learning for battlefield applications.
During Operation Sindoor, India's retaliatory airstrikes along the western front, a Bengaluru-built loitering munition made headlines. Alpha Design Technologies' SkyStriker, developed in collaboration with Israel's Elbit Systems, was deployed for precision strikes.
This convergence of state-backed R&D and industrial production makes Bengaluru one of the rare cities globally where design, testing and manufacturing can all happen within a 40-km radius — a logistical and intellectual advantage not lost on policymakers.
SPACE CITY
Perhaps no other city in India has come to symbolise the country's space ambitions more than Bengaluru. The headquarters of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) sits quietly in the city, but the ripples it creates are anything but quiet.
It was from Bengaluru that mission control oversaw Chandrayaan,
, and the Chandrayaan-3 landing that etched India's name on lunar history. Bengaluru is also home to the UR Rao Satellite Centre, Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (Istrac), and the Human Spaceflight Centre — key pillars of India's space ecosystem.
As India prepares for Gaganyaan, its first crewed space mission, and looks towards building a space station by 2035, Bengaluru's relevance only deepens. The growing space start-up ecosystem, too, has found fertile ground here.
Among them, Digantara, a homegrown start-up, is building India's first private space situational awareness (SSA) infrastructure. With its space-based sensors and debrismapping technology, There are other firms like Pixxel and GalaxEye that are working on Earth Observation satellites.
Bellatrix Aerospace, with inspace propulsion systems, further cements the city's image as India's new space crucible.
In an era when space is rapidly militarising, Bengaluru's role takes on a strategic weight. The Defence Space Agency (DSA), headquartered in the city, is responsible for integrating space assets across the armed forces — a nod to how deeply embedded Bengaluru is in India's strategic command structure.
QUANTUM, CYBER & AI
As cyberwarfare emerges as the fifth domain of war, Bengaluru has become India's cyber nerve centre — home to defence cyber units, intelligence-linked AI projects, and a robust private ecosystem. It hosts the southern operations of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and regularly sees joint cyber exercises involving the armed forces.
India's push towards a cyber command and digitised battlefield operations draws power from Bengaluru's strengths in software and electronics.
Start-ups like Tonbo Imaging lead in tactical vision systems, while Awiros and QNu Labs are building secure AI and quantumresilient encryption frameworks.
On the quantum frontier, the Raman Research Institute is pioneering quantum communication protocols, while Isro is exploring satellite-based quantum key distribution — both crucial for next-gen, secure networks. This research is vital as quantum computing begins to challenge traditional encryption.
AI research hubs like IISc and Artpark add momentum, turning data sovereignty and cyber resilience into on-the-ground innovation. The civilian-military tech divide is fading fast with AI being used in signal intelligence, and battlefield tech — born in civilian labs.
Bengaluru doesn't just understand this shift — it attempts to drive it. Few cities fuse academic depth, start-up energy, and strategic defence imperatives quite like this one.
URBAN CHAOS
Yet, for all its promise, Bengaluru's strategic future is not without risk. The city's infrastructure is crumbling under its own success. Traffic bottlenecks, flooding, unreliable power supply, and chronic water shortages plague daily life, threatening to erode the confidence of investors and institutions alike.
The risk isn't just economic — it's strategic. Defence systems depend on uninterrupted power and secure data flows.
Space missions demand clockwork logistics. If Bengaluru chokes, the arteries of national ambition may feel the squeeze.
The govt has begun to respond. New road projects, suburban rail, and data centre corridors are in the pipeline. The state is also trying to decentralise growth to regions like Devanahalli and Tumakuru, hoping to ease pressure on the core.
However, much will depend on how imaginatively the city is governed.
As a key node in India's national security and technological grid, Bengaluru's stability is not just a local concern.
QUIET POWER
Unlike Delhi, Bengaluru wields no political power on the national stage. Unlike Mumbai, it is not the financial capital. Yet, in the 21st century, where algorithms, aerospace, and autonomy define statecraft, Bengaluru may well be India's most strategically consequential city. This is where engineers draft the contours of air dominance.
Where scientists whisper to satellites. Where coders encrypt secrets. And where the battles of the future — silent, digital, orbital — are already being waged.
Strategists in the South Block know this too. So do adversaries, watching from afar. The world may see this as a city of cafés, flyovers, and start-ups, but behind the glass facades and traffic snarls, Bengaluru hums with quiet power — a city that doesn't shout its importance, but ensures it is felt across the firmament.
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