Defence allocation based on what is needed for deterrence: Ministry of Defence

Ministry representative briefs Standing Committee on Defence

March 16, 2022 09:57 pm | Updated 09:57 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arriving to attend the extended Budget Session at Parliament House in New Delhi on March 14, 2022.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arriving to attend the extended Budget Session at Parliament House in New Delhi on March 14, 2022. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The directive of our Defence Minister is that against China we should be so strong that we can deter them, and the Government is making budgetary allocation to the armed forces based on what is required to maintain deterrence, a Defence Ministry representative told the Standing Committee on Defence. We can not only stop what happened in Doklam or Galwan, but also show that if someone resorts to any misadventure then our reaction will not be good for them, the representative said.

Since 2016-17, none of the three Services had been allocated the amount that was projected by the Defence Ministry at Budget Estimate (BE) or Revised Estimate Stage (RE), the committee noted, while also observing that at BE stage in 2022-23 the gap between the projected and allocated budget for Army, Navy and Air Force was ₹14,729.11 crore, ₹20,031.97 crore and ₹28,471.05 crore respectively “which are remarkably high.”

“The Committee are of the view that in the present scenario of heightened tensions with our neighbouring countries, especially at borders of our country, such situation is not conducive for defence preparedness of the country to bring it at par with them or making it even better than theirs by possessing capital intensive modern machines which are imperative to tilt the result of war in our favour and also increase deterrence capabilities of our country,” the standing committee said in its latest report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

Responding to questions on lower allocation against too much projected amount by IAF during the financial year 2021-22, the Ministry representative referred to how much China spends. Their threat scenario was much higher and it was in fact competing with the U.S. to overtake them, the representative stated.

“The directive of our Defence Minister is that against China we should be so strong that we can deter them. It is not the intention of our country that we go and start a conflict with them,” the representative said.

Taking into account the trend of sharp decline in the allocation of funds vis-à-vis projections under Army, Air Force and Navy, the Committee recommended that the Ministry should not make any reductions while allocating budget for capital head for any of the Services in the Demands for the coming years. The Committee also recommended that the Ministry take steps to enhance allocation at RE Stage in 2022-23 and also at the time of Supplementary Grants, keeping in view the operational preparedness of the three forces.

As per the report, the gap between the RE figures for Army in 2016-17 was ₹10,472.04 crore which increased to ₹12,967.81 crore in 2021-22. For Navy, the difference was ₹2933.76 crore in 2016-17 at RE stage, which had become ₹3,989.84 crore in 2021-221. For Air Force, the gap was ₹8,273.09 crore in 2014-15 which increased to ₹17,961.62 crore in 2020-21 RE stage.

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