With Pakistan and China ramping up their military prowess, the armed forces need more funds to procure state of the art weapons but the budget for 2020-21 has provided 35 per cent less than the projected demand. Noting this fact, the Standing Committee on Defence has said “it is a considerable shortage and said such situation is not conducive for modern day warfare.”
Sharing this concern in its report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the parliamentary panel said shortage in capital outlay will affect acquisition of latest weaponry, aircraft, ships tanks and capital intensive projects land, building and other infrastructure.
“The Committee feel and desire that to develop and acquire the most modern state of the art fighting platforms, which can match Northern and Western neighbours, the requisite allocation is very essential,” the report said.
Observing that since 2015-16, none of the Services have got the matching allocation as per the projection, the report on Demands for Grants for capital outlay of defence services for 2020-21, the parliamentary panel said in modern war possession of capital intensive weapons are “pre requisite for not only tilting the result in our favour but also having a credible deterrence capabilities.”
The total capital allocation for the next fiscal as reflected in the budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February one stands at 1,13, 734 crores. However, the projection by the armed forces was Rs 1,75, 702.06 crores which amounts to a shortage of Rs 61, 968.06crores.
Examining the allocation Service wise, the Standing Committee said the gap which was there in 2015-2016 for the Army Rs 4,596 crores has increased to Rs 17,911.22 crores in 2020-21(from 14 percent to 36 percent).
In the case of the Navy, the difference between projection and allocation was Rs 1,264.89 crores in 2014-15, which has increased to Rs 18,580 crores in the next fiscal(five per cent to 41 percent) and for the Air Force, the gap which was Rs 12,505.21 crores in 2015-16 has increased to Rs 22,925.38 crores in 2020-21(27 per cent to 35
percent).
Stressing the point that the Navy’s fighting capabilities depend on the high value platforms like aircraft carrier, submarines, destroyers and frigates, the panel said the allocation for the Navy(percentage)wise has seen the “”sharpest decline.””
In its remarks over the low capital fund, the Committee also said it was surprised over the fact that during the year 2019-2020, the shortfall in the projection to allocated amount was Rs 67, 541.76 crores. However, the defence ministry is convinced with additional allocation of “”meagre”” Rs 7,000 crores, the report said.
In this backdrop, the committee, therefore in “”unequivocal”” terms recommend that all-out efforts be done to give first and foremost priority to the preparedness of the defence forces. It should also be ensured that critical requirements of the Services do not suffer due to want of funds, the panel said.
The issue of burgeoning pension bill also came under the panel’s scrutiny as the pension budget has increased approximately 3.5 times since the last decade. The pension provision for 2020-21 is Rs 1,33, 825crores which is Rs 16, 014.56 crores more than 2019-20.