With Defence pension touching Rs82,000 crore and nearly Rs1 lakh crore marked for salaries to armed forces personnel, the only way out to reduce this huge amount is by reducing “flab” by inducting technology, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Friday.
Conceding that such expense including pension and salaries was “inevitable” in the present context, he said the long term solution was to remove “unwanted elements” and save money for faster modernisation.
Making this observation in an interaction with the media to explain the highlights of the budget for next fiscal, Parrikar gave an example and said manpower can be reduced by introducing simulators for training pilots and drivers in the armed forces. He said training of pilots can be split into 50-50 by using simulators for certain hours of flying and the remaining on aircraft. Similarly, 80 per cent of training for driving trucks and other vehicles can be through simulators and rest on vehicles, he said.
Stressing that expenses will be reduced only on training aspect and not actual combat training, the Minister said telephone operators were now becoming redundant in military stations all over the country due to automatic telephone exchanges.
Replying to a query on increasing dollar-rupee disparity in the context of India importing nearly 70 per cent of military hard ware, Parrikar said that is why the NDA Government was stressing on ‘Make in India’ to save precious foreign exchange.
Having got nearly Rs86,000 crore as capital outlay for the next financial year, Parrikar said a part of this amount was set aside for the proposed Rafale fighter deal and added funds were not a problem for acquisitions.
Asked about the time line for inking the Rafale deal, the Minister said “I am a tough negotiator and remarked “a good buyer does not put his weakness in front and please do not force me to disclose my cards.” This came in the backdrop of reports that French and Indian Government officials were yet to agree to a final price tag.
PM Narendra Modi during his visit to France last year had announced that India will buy 36 Rafale jets off the shelf through a Government to Government deal. Reports suggested that the final tag could cross the Rs60,000 crore mark. Negotia-tions between the two countries was now on here.