The armed forces have sought an allocation of Rs 26.84
lakh crore ($416 billion) over the next five years to ensure requisite military
modernization and maintenance to take on the collusive threat from Pakistan and China as well as to safeguard
India's expanding geostrategic interests.
Union
defense ministry sources said the 13th consolidated defense five-year plan for
2017-2022, which has been pegged at Rs 26,83,924 crore after extensive
consultations with all stakeholders, including the DRDO,
was presented at the Unified Commanders' Conference here on July 10-11.
"The
armed forces pitched for an early approval to the 13th Plan because their
annual acquisition plans are based on it," said a source. These
projections for higher defense outlays come at a time when Indian
and Chinese
troops are locked in a tense but "non-aggressive" face-off near the
Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction, while the daily firing duels with Pakistan
along the line of control continue to take a toll on both sides.
Union defense minister Arun Jaitley, who addressed the conference, assured the armed forces that capital expenditure for modernization projects would be "a priority area" with resource availability increasing within the Indian economy. However, it is also true that the actual annual defense budgets have shown a discernible trend of declining modernization budgets, unspent funds and a skewed revenue to capital expenditure ratio, which have meant that the Army, Navy and IAF continue to grapple with critical operational gaps on several fronts.
In
the 2017-18 defense budget, for instance, the Rs 1,72,774 crore revenue outlay
by far outstrips the capital one of Rs 86,488 crore for new weapon systems and
modernization. Moreover, the Rs 2.74 lakh crore defense budget works out to
just 1.56% of the projected GDP, the lowest such figure since the 1962 war with
China. "The forces want the defense budget to progressively reach at least
2% of the GDP for their operational requirements,"
said a source.
As
per the 13th Defense Plan, Rs 12,88,654 crore has been projected for the
capital outlay, while Rs 13,95,271 crore for revenue expenditure. With an eye
firmly on China, there is also a separate section in the plan on the
"capability development"
of the strategically-located tri-Service Andaman and Nicobar Command, which was
set up in October 2001 but has suffered from relative neglect, lack of
infrastructure and turf-wars.
"The
armed forces will concurrently work to improve their poor teeth-to-tail ratio
as well as ensure proper inter-service prioritization in procurements, thrust
on indigenization, and optimal utilization of funds. They also want a concerted
effort to prevent the yearly surrender of funds," said another source.
In
The same link, the defense five-year plans are formulated in consonance with
existing threat perceptions, the "Defense-Minister's
operational directives" and the 15-year Long-term integrated perspective
plan. But they have not received much attention from successive governments,
with the 10th (2002-07), 11th (2007-12) and 12th (2012-17) Plans failing to get
approval from the finance
ministry.
7500 helmets have been received in the
first lot, out of which, 2500 have already been issued to soldiers. A further
6000 helmets are undergoing ballistic test, an army statement said.
These helmets are going to save soldiers
from bullets of upto 9mm range from as close as 20 meters. The army had placed
a Rs 170-crore order for 1,58,279 helmets to Kanpur-based firm MKU in order to replace the standard issue
Model 1974 infantry combat helmets. Of the 1.58 lakh new helmets, more than
50,000 would be in commander configuration with in-built communication, set up
to make them compatible with three types of radio sets being used by the
soldiers, army sources said.
It is clearly proved that "Modi Sarkar" well
aware regarding security of Nation.Indian Forces Seek Rs 27 Lakh Crore Over Next 5 Years For Defense Projects (Modi Government)