Security areas like economic, energy, food, health, environmental and several other dimensions are important for security of a nation, he said while addressing members of 55th batch of National Defence College.
The members of the team of the course comprise members from all the three armed forces, IAS, IPS and officials from friendly nations.
Recalling the words of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, while inaugurating the NDC in 1960, the President said, "defence is not an isolated subject. It is intimately connected with the economic, industrial and many other aspects in the country and is all encompassing".
He said the role of the armed forces has expanded far beyond traditional military matters with the revolutions in military affairs and globalisation.
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"It is clear that future conflicts in the complex defence and security environment will require a more integrated multi-state and multi-agency approach," Mukherjee said.
"There must be a conscious effort to strengthen the underlying linkages and not divide them into watertight compartments. Adopting such an approach will yield rich dividends. At the same time, one must not lose sight of the larger picture and keep the primary objective always in focus," he said.
"The astonishing pace at which events have unfolded in the recent past could not have been foreseen a decade earlier," he said.