Two-front war possible, budget allocation 'dash' Army hopes say report

Representation picThe possibility of a twofront war is a reality and the current budget for the army does little to contribute to this requirement a top army official told a parliamentary panel while the Vice Chief of Indian Army said that the latest Budget has dashed our hopes As per a report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence headed by BJP MP Maj Gen BC Khanduri retd at a time when India has seen a spurt in ceasefire violations along its border with Pakistan and rise in tension along its border with China post Doklam standoff a representative of the army told the panel that the threat perception has been ever increasingIn another report of the panel Vice Chief of Indian Army Lt Gen Sarath Chand has been quoted as saying that the Budget has dashed our hopes and may cause a setback According to one of the seven reports of the parliamentary panel on defence tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday an army representative gave details of the disturbances along Indias eastern and western fronts Mentioning the Doklam standoff the officer said there is increased patrolling and transgressions by Chinese troops and increased activity in the Tibet plateau where quantum of troops and level of exercises have gone up He also talked of the increasing crossborder firing along the Pakistan border high number of civilian injuries and deaths and Fidayeen attacks on army establishmentsThe army official said modernisation of both Pakistani and Chinese forces is going on in full swing The possibility of a twofront war is a reality and speaking about it it is important that we are conscious of the issue and we pay attention to our modernisation and filling up our deficiencies More than ever there is an increasing obligation to ensure that our nation cements its military capability and is recognised as a net security provider in the South Asia region he said But the current Budget does little to contribute to this requirement In another report the Vice Chief of Indian Army has said The Budget of 201819 has dashed our hopes and most of what has been achieved has actually received a little setbackChand has said the marginal increase in the Budget Estimates barely accounts for inflation and does not even cater for the taxes Allocation of Rs 21338 crore for modernisation is insufficient even to cater for committed payment of Rs 29033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes emergency procurements and 10I 10 day intensive war other DGOF requirements Committed liabilities of 2017 which will also get passed on to 2018 will further accentuate the situation he said Typically any modern armed force should have onethird of forces onethird of its equipment in the vintage category onethird in the current category and onethird in the stateoftheart category As far as we are concerned 68 per cent of our equipment is in the vintage category with just about 24 per cent in the current and eight per cent in the stateoftheart category Chand saidHe also said that Make in India is a great step taken by the Ministry of Defence towards development and selfreliance but there is not enough money available for the army to take up projects We in the Army have identified as many as 25 projects for Make in India However there is not adequate Budget to support this he said He added that projects like futureready combat vehicles FRCVs and future infantry combat vehicles FICVs through these schemes may also get delayed due to the low allocation There is an overall shortfall of around Rs 12296 crore as far as capital is concerned the Vice Chief of Indian Army saidOf the revenue part of the Budget a bulk of the 45 per cent increase in the revenue allocation will go towards the pay increase due to the 7th Pay Commission The balance leaves an increase of just over three per cent which does not even cater for the inflationary requirements one of the reports said In addition to this there is an additional burden of Rs 5000 crore because of new taxation laws in Goods and Services Tax GST which has come into force in the last one year and which has also not been taken care of in the latest BudgetTo add to it while financial power has been delegated to the Vice Chief of Army to spend around Rs 14097 crore there is no separate allocation for it The parliamentary panel has meanwhile rapped the government for low allocation to the army In the Budget Estimates 201819 the total projection made by army including Revenue and Capital Budget is Rs 19638736 crore The allocation made against this projection is Rs 15387522 crore This amounts to a shortfall of Rs 4251214 crore or a budget deficit of nearly 23 per cent visavis the projection the Committee said The current budget is not supportive to the inevitable needs of the Army Considering the facts of the matter the Committee is of the view that providing adequate budgetary support is unavoidable the panel observedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever