Bharat Rakshak

vijayk wrote:

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Pompous pronouncements

Over decades, successive finance ministers have routinely promised that there will be no shortage of funds for the armed forces, and all additional monies which they may require will be provided. Totally disregarding reality, then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had unbelievingly declared in July 2018 that there was neither a shortage of funds nor of ammunition, when there was a paucity of both. The minister’s optimism, in fact, was in direct contrast to the Defence Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (SCoD) that had publicly affirmed a shortage of funds for the military.

Sitharaman’s declaration was as ironic as it was surprising, as in the financial year 2018-19 there was a yawning gap of Rs 1,12, 137 crore between the requirement projected by the services and the funds allotted to them. Of this, Rs 76,766 crore was the shortfall in allocation for capital expenditure that largely caters for force modernisation. What the then Indian Army’s vice-chief Lieutenant General Sarath Chand had told the SCoD that year is more telling.

“It (the budget) is barely enough to cater to the rise in expenses on account of inflation and does not even cater for taxes,” Lieutenant General Chand had told the Committee. He had stated that Rs 21,338 crore capital allocation for the army’s modernisation was “insufficient to cater for the committed payment” of Rs 29,033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes and for ammunition and equipment procurement”.


The vice chief had further revealed that 68% of the army’s equipment was in the ‘vintage category’, 24% in the current and 8% in the state of art grouping, and consequently, insufficient funds were certainly not going to remedy this worrying state of affairs.

The Committee’s prescient warning that the shortage of funds could lead to a default in payment for equipment to vendors, proved true in January 2019. This was when the ministry of defence (MoD) withheld payment of about Rs 20,000 crore to the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in order to pay overseas vendors and obviate punitive contractual provisions. Nobody asked, and no explanations were given, as to how the situation was managed the following year when the allocation to the services again fell short of their requirement by Rs 92,412 crore.

The recurring financial crisis to sustain the country’s military is as much on account of the government’s inability to meet the services’ financial requirement, as on account of the failure to acknowledge that finances will always be finite. Therefore, financially unviable, and disjointed expenditure plans continue to be made, with each service independently pursuing its own vision of the future.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat appointed exactly a year ago as head of the all-powerful department of military affairs (DMA) was expected to ensure service jointness and prioritisation in defence planning, especially with regard to financing, but the situation remains unaltered.
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The report by domestic rating agency Brickwork Ratings said economic activities are slowly reaching pre-COVID levels following the relaxation of the lockdown, except in sectors that remain affected by social distancing norms.

we expect the real GDP to grow at 11 per cent in FY22, from the estimated contraction of 7 per cent to 7.5 per cent in FY21," the agency said.

Merchandise exports grew 16.2%, year on year, in the first week of January, while imports rose 1.1%, a senior commerce ministry official said on Monday.

Engineering goods exports rose as much as 51.8%, accounting for over 75% of the incremental exports between January 1 and 7. Petroleum exports rose by 17.3%. However, exports from some of the labour-intensive sectors continued to bleed. For instance, exports of garments dropped by 26% and yarn by 22% in the first week of January. Chemicals (both organic and inorganic) exports also dropped, by 5.5%.

VinodTK wrote: For 2021-2022 budget, I hope GOI will up the defense allocation to give some purchasing power to the armed forces. If you look at the majority of the discussions / topics on BRF, they invariably ends with: "there is no money"

Retail inflation fell sharply to 4.59 per cent in December, mainly due to declining food prices, government data showed on Tuesday.

Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.93 per cent in November.

Food inflation declined to 3.41 per cent in December in 2020, compared to 9.5 per cent in the previous month, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

nam wrote:

VinodTK wrote: For 2021-2022 budget, I hope GOI will up the defense allocation to give some purchasing power to the armed forces.
Extra budget for defence will not make major difference, other than orders to foreign companies.

LUCKNOW: India would soon kick start the coronavirus vaccine export programme, defence minister Rajanth Singh announced on Saturday. Rajnath made the announcement after laying the foundation stone of a new Central Command Hospital in Lucknow.

Commenting on existing healthcare facilities across the country, Rajnath said, "We acknowledge that there are still shortage of hospitals, bed in healthcare system, but it has also improved after Independence. We are going to increase expenditure on health sector.
He said, "Health insurance for all was unimaginable thing, but in last two years over 2.5 crore people have benefited from Ayushman Bharat program. This is unparalleled health insurance system in the world. People get Rs 5 lakh health cover which renews every year." "As a part of healthcare system improvement, 22 news AIIMS were opened and we are want to open medical college and post graduate medical college in every district. Medical commission has been opened to promote more research, development in health sector. The commission also focues to evaluate hospitals in order to improve the facilities, he added."

Suraj wrote:Continuing my efforts to keep with the Jal Jeevan Mission every month:
15 Jan 2021

Swarajya@SwarajyaMag·3h

Mukesh Ambani Led Reliance To Integrate JioMart Into WhatsApp To Tap Into Its 400 Million User Base

kit wrote:

vijayk wrote:

kit wrote:[

Remember NDTV filed complaints before several tribunals to block this project

kit wrote:

vijayk wrote:
Remember NDTV filed complaints before several tribunals to block this project

What exactly was their problem ? They are a news channel ?!!

dsreedhar wrote:Is there any good article on impact of GST on Indian economy, the various sectors and where it stands today?
A friend (accounting) making a complaint on GST and still lacking clarity on GST.

dsreedhar wrote:Thanks Kaivalya. I read the Deloitte article.
It seems people are frustrated with the filing and compliance issues. The input tax credit processing seems complex and challenging.
Hope govt is working on solutions and easing on these.