Does having more ICBM-capable countries make the world safer?
As long as Pakistan and India continue their pissing contest they're probably both going to need nukes just to keep things cordial.
I think this makes the chance of an Indian/Chinese non-localized war much less likely.
That said, modern China is a pragmatic country whose primary focus is to keep its own population happy. China has a lot of hurdles in the path to the realization of that goal, and needs the economy of the region to stay stable for that. If China attacks India (or vice versa), global supply chains and economies will get severly affected and in turn will have an avalanche effect on the economies of both the countries. Hence, practically speaking, neither countries would wage war on each other unless taken over by a whimsical, dicatatorial leader (and which dictator isn't whimsical?).
This is important in the context of strategic nuclear weapons, because the only situation that would justify using such weapons is when national survival is at stake - the risks are just too high otherwise. National survival isn't threatened by short-lived border skirmishes.
Our time, money and resources are better utilized spending on development activities than pointless wars.
Besides we(Indian civilization) have never attacked any country in several thousand years and never will. There is no bigger a peace loving nation in the world than India. But if some one attacks us, we need to defend ourselves.
Historically India is impenetrable through the northern and eastern sides because of the natural defense Himalayas provide. Nothing has changed in the modern times.
Kind of like in the movies where people aim guns at each other. If two people are aiming at each other there's a stalemate. With three it's sill a stalemate, if you have guns in both hands. When you have four aiming at each other it becomes more chaotic and less predictable, I think, specially if one of the four, or five etc. is more disliked than the rest. It's a different scenario and the analogy isn't perfect, but it may illustrate how I see the danger increasing.
AGNI missile range : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agni_missile_range.png
We can't get rid of the nuclear threat as long as the knowledge of nuclear physics exists and someone somewhere wants to conquer the world (or merely a continent in some cases).
Software patents are a legal construct. Get rid of that, and writing up software patents accomplishes nothing.
As for the military might, Pakistan's past actions speak for themselves. Indians sleep better knowing that Pakistan has a lot to lose should they try anything.
Don't forget that we are the only nation which hasn't invaded any other nation in a millennium.
If any thing we have nukes only as deterrents.
We have never started a war alone and never will, because we don't want to kill innocent civilians. But God forbid if we are attacked then we are human beings and we need to defend ourselves.