New Delhi, July 07: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee hiked this year’s (2009-10) defence budget by a generous 34 per cent, a thumping allocation for the defence establishment.
From the soldier at the borders to retired veterans, from India’s armament laboratories to its war chest for foreign weapons, everything stands to gain.
Overall, defence has been allocated Rs 1,41,703 crore this year – a good 34 per cent increase over last year.
While the defence ministry spent Rs 41,000 crore last year for new equipment purchases, it has been given a generous Rs 54,824 crore this year.
On the other hand, the budget for indigenous weapon development has been hiked by 23 per cent to Rs 4,575 crore.
The increase in India’s weapons-buying capacity is fully in line with its massive order list for aircraft, warships and guns.
With the government selectively accepting the controversial ‘one-rank one-pension’ demand, jawans stand to gain though pension parity for officers has been left unaddressed. The government’s pension bill zooms up by Rs 1,550 crore.
For the fighting forces, the army as always got the meatiest chunk and meatiest budgetary hike of 21 per cent at Rs 58,648 crore.
The navy got a miserable 3 per cent hike in its budget, which looks inexplicable considering its massively increased profile following 26/11 Mumbai attack.
The air force must be happy with a 17 per cent jump in its allocation to Rs 14,318 crore.
An expanding budget, however, is not always a good thing. India’s armed forces are inflated and unwieldy. And the country continues to depend way too much on expensive arms imports.
–Agencies