Discuss how national security can be balanced with concerns of human rights.

National security protects collective existence, while human rights protect human dignity; ethical governance therefore requires balancing security imperatives with liberty, proportionality and justice.

The Ethical Tensions

1. Relying purely on utilitarianism for state security risks treating individuals as mere means, explicitly violating Kant's Categorical Imperative.
2. Sacrificing individual liberty under the guise of state realism contradicts John Locke's foundational theory of inviolable natural rights.
3. Ignoring human rights for national defense triggers moral myopia and ethical fading, ultimately eroding the Public Trust Doctrine.
4. Blind adherence to security protocols creates a robotic amoralism that fundamentally subverts Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's vision of constitutional morality.

Ethical Framework for Balancing Both

1. Doctrine of Proportionality: State action restricting liberties must be legitimate, necessary, and the absolute least intrusive option available.
   1. Example: The Supreme Court mandated in the Anuradha Bhasin case that internet and telecom suspensions must strictly pass the proportionality test. 
2. Preventing Arbitrariness: Exceptional security laws must have strict judicial safeguards so state power does not become tyrannical.
   1. Example: Courts actively reviewing preventive detentions under laws like UAPA to ensure citizens are not jailed without due process.
3. 
   Protecting Non-Derogable Core Rights: Basic human rights, such as freedom from torture, cannot be compromised under any security justification.
   1. Example: Adhering to the D.K. Basu guidelines to strictly prohibit third-degree custodial torture during counter-terrorism interrogations.
4. Independent Democratic Oversight: Covert intelligence and security agencies must be accountable to external checks to prevent moral hazard.
5. Human-Centric Security Paradigm: A nation is only deeply secure when its citizens are not alienated and feel trusted by the state.
   1. Example: The Indian Army's Operation Sadbhavana in border regions, which focuses on education and welfare to build local public trust.

True national security is not merely the absence of threats; it is a social order where citizens remain secure without becoming subjects of unchecked state power.