Defence budget: untouched by reforms

Now going specifically to the budget Chidambaram presented on Wednesday, the increase in the outlay for individual services like the army, navy and air force is around 10 per cent. This means that the services will be able to undertake their modernisation plans but would find it difficult to pursue their envisaged growth programmes.

A quick reading reveals that the most striking omission in this budget is that no separate provision has been made for the proposed aerospace command. Of course, the money for this purpose could be generated within the system. However, a separate mention to it would have definitely sent a signal to the world that the Indian government is serious about achieving an aerospace command. The issue becomes particularly important when seen against the backdrop of China’s recent anti-satellite testing.

The idea of allowing private industry to enter into the defence arena has also not got properly reflected in the budget document. This year, an outlay of Rs 356 crore has been earmarked for an ordnance factory — a marginal increase over last year’s. Much of this could have been saved if privatisation was given priority. Today India’s Armed Forces are deployed to fight both conventional as well as asymmetric threats. Along with integrated battlefield technologies like precision-strike weapons, communication and stealth, they require innovative technologies to fight asymmetric threats like terrorism. In the years to come, the defence forces and the finance ministry need to work together to invest in the research and development of such technologies. This year’s budget has largely ignored research and development.

One of the problems of defence spending is that demarcated funds don’t get used, year after year. This year too it looks like more than Rs 3,000 crore of the budget will remain unspent. This is essentially a result of too much rigidity in the procurement procedures. The negative impact of the various post-Kargil scams has now become more evident. Today many in the decision hierarchy feel that it is safer not to take a decision than land in trouble later. The government needs to address this problem and try to evolve a rapid but transparent decision-making system of procurement.

A small but interesting factor in the present budget is that the provision for the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, which is at present a full-fledged regiment of the Indian Army having 15 battalions, has been slashed by almost Rs 10 crore. The reason for this cut in the outlay for units like the JAKLI, whose soldiers are busy dealing with militancy in the Valley, is difficult to fathom. It gives rise to the suspicion that defence budgets are carried out as routine exercises without much thought being given to micro-details. What makes things worse is that hardly any discussions on them take place, even in Parliament. This is also probably the reason why, in spite of the tabling of more than 15 budgets in the post-reform era, ‘reforms’ in military budgeting are yet to arrive.

The writer is is a research fellow at IDSA, New Delhi