Modi or Manmohan, India’s military needs haven’t been met under either for 10 yrs, data shows
New Delhi: There is a growing disparity between the monetary allocation that the armed forces seek for modernisation and what they eventually get in the Union budget.
Latest figures show that the gap is so wide that what the government allotted for 2021-22 under the Capital budget, was lower than the allocation that the forces had sought seven years ago in 2014-15.
This gap in what the forces project under capital expenditure and what is eventually allotted by the finance ministry has led to multiple projects getting delayed because of a cash crunch and a majority of the modernisation funds going into committed liabilities.
According to data provided in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply Monday, the armed forces had projected a need for Rs 1,32,597.69 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal for modernisation plans. The government, however, allotted just Rs 84,076.95 crore in that year’s budget.
This bill by the armed forces had risen to Rs 1,99,553.44 crore under the capital budget in this year’s budget demand. The government, however, eventually allotted Rs 1,23,000.22 crore, an amount less than what the Services had sought in 2014.
his works out to be roughly a 38 per cent downsizing from the Services’ demand as part of its modernisation plans, which comes at a time when tensions with China is at an all time high since the 1962 war.
Experts point out that the capital budget does not mean funds only for acquisition but also includes money for land and certain construction activities.
For example, in the 2020-21 budget, while the capital budget under the budgetary estimate was Rs 1,02,432.57 crore, only Rs 89,698 crore was meant for modernisation, according to Laxman Kumar Behera, associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Special Centre for National Security Studies.
Talking to ThePrint, Behera said the budget deficit is not unique to the Narendra Modi government but added that the gap has become more acute in recent years because of which less money is available for new contracts as the majority of funds go into committed liabilities.
Committed liabilities is a term for payments that need to be made according to the schedule for contracts inked in the past.