Best of BS Opinion: When ignored threats begin to shape the future

Business Standard

03-06-2025

There's a certain kind of threat that thrives in silence, not because it is invisible, but because it is ignored. Like shadows in the corner, these risks expand in scale and consequence the longer they remain unattended. Often, they are not new. They simply wait, growing sharper in the background, until the cost of looking away becomes undeniable. Let's dive in.
Consider Ukraine's recent drone offensive inside Russian territory. What might once have seemed improbable, a smaller nation infiltrating the airspace of a nuclear power, was executed with precision and audacity. Ukraine used first-person-view drones disguised as construction supplies, launched from trucks masquerading as commercial deliveries. As our first editorial notes, the strike may have damaged a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet. But beyond the military feat lies a deeper alarm: the rise of asymmetric warfare using cheap tech and commercial infrastructure. For countries like India, the shadow here is a soft underbelly, critical sites and industrial zones vulnerable to attacks that no longer require missiles, just logistics and intent.
Meanwhile, the 'missing middle' of India's economy — its medium enterprises — faces a quieter, systemic neglect. As a Niti Aayog report reveals, these firms are crucial to exports and innovation but receive little targeted support. Sandwiched between micro units and large corporations, they fall through policy cracks, unable to scale or modernise. Left unchecked, this oversight could dim India's manufacturing future, as incentives continue to reward staying small and informal, argues our second editorial.
Ajai Chowdhry cautions of another expanding shadow: data insecurity. Despite India's digital rise, sovereignty over data remains elusive. Foreign tech giants exploit legal loopholes, storing Indian data offshore and evading domestic regulations. As AI systems reshape global power structures, India must act decisively to retain control over its digital assets—before the opportunity slips too far.
In the green economy too, delays carry weight. As Prosenjit Datta notes, India's EV sector now feels the pinch of China's export restrictions on rare earth magnets. The crisis highlights a broader vulnerability: a lack of urgency in mining and processing critical minerals at home. Without bold intervention, the country's clean energy transition could falter under imported dependencies.
Even the Constitution, as reviewed by Shreekant Sambrani in Shashi Tharoor's latest book called Our Living Constitution: A concise introduction & commentary, is framed as under ideological siege. Yet the analysis itself suffers from imbalance, offering more alarm than insight. In trying to confront one shadow, it casts another.
Stay tuned, and remember, some corners remain dark not because light can't reach them, but because no one bothers to switch it on!