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Rip Van Antony
Defence minister wakes up to new neighbourhood
Business Standard / New Delhi September 15, 2010, 0:48 IST
Indias Defence Minister A K Antony has woken up. Addressing the annual combined commanders conference this week, Mr Antony said that India needs to keep abreast of military modernisation in its neighbourhood to ensure that Indias armed forces hold an edge in the region. India, Mr Antony said, cannot lose sight of the fact that China has been improving its military and physical infrastructure. In fact, there has been an increasing assertiveness on the part of China. Good morning, Mr Antony, welcome to Indias new neighbourhood. Under Mr Antonys watch, Indias defence expenditure (defex) to national income ratio slipped below 2 per cent for the first time since the war with China in 1962. In 2008-09, the defex/GDP ratio was 1.95 per cent, a level India recorded last in the late 1950s, when Mr Antonys infamous predecessor, the late V K Krishna Menon, was presiding over the nations defences with disastrous consequences. The defex/GDP ratio has continuously declined in recent years, from around 2.9 per cent to less than 2 per cent. It is only in the last year that the ratio has moved up to 2.3 per cent. Even this is way below the 3 per cent level defined as an adequate level of expenditure in Indias first ever Strategic Defence Review prepared by the National Security Advisory Board in 2000. China spends over 7 per cent of its much higher GDP on defence.
It is not just Chinas military modernisation that India must take note of, but also Chinas strategic investments in Indias neighbourhood, including the Indian Ocean region, and the military assistance that Pakistan has been getting from the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. The war in Afghanistan-Pakistan, rise of China and growing military build-up in the Indian Ocean region by all maritime powers have altered Indias security environment in the past few years. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh famously said, it is not the intentions of each of the players that matter, or ought to matter, but the capabilities. India cannot remain oblivious to the growing strategic capabilities of its neighbours and others in its neighbourhood.
In the face of such worrying changes, the government of the United Progressive Alliance has adopted a lackadaisical approach to investment in the countrys military modernisation and defence preparedness. All the three services army, navy and air force are in dire need of additional funding. Securing budgetary support is not the real problem. Even when allocations have been made, the defence ministry has been unable to spend. This is partly due to the ministrys reduced capacity to handle complex equipment acquisition processes, and partly due to its reticence. Human resources at the defence ministry, from top to bottom, are in dire need of upgradation. The government must also open up the defence equipment industry to private sector players to improve the productivity of public spending at home.
Defence minister wakes up to new neighbourhood
Business Standard / New Delhi September 15, 2010, 0:48 IST
Indias Defence Minister A K Antony has woken up. Addressing the annual combined commanders conference this week, Mr Antony said that India needs to keep abreast of military modernisation in its neighbourhood to ensure that Indias armed forces hold an edge in the region. India, Mr Antony said, cannot lose sight of the fact that China has been improving its military and physical infrastructure. In fact, there has been an increasing assertiveness on the part of China. Good morning, Mr Antony, welcome to Indias new neighbourhood. Under Mr Antonys watch, Indias defence expenditure (defex) to national income ratio slipped below 2 per cent for the first time since the war with China in 1962. In 2008-09, the defex/GDP ratio was 1.95 per cent, a level India recorded last in the late 1950s, when Mr Antonys infamous predecessor, the late V K Krishna Menon, was presiding over the nations defences with disastrous consequences. The defex/GDP ratio has continuously declined in recent years, from around 2.9 per cent to less than 2 per cent. It is only in the last year that the ratio has moved up to 2.3 per cent. Even this is way below the 3 per cent level defined as an adequate level of expenditure in Indias first ever Strategic Defence Review prepared by the National Security Advisory Board in 2000. China spends over 7 per cent of its much higher GDP on defence.
It is not just Chinas military modernisation that India must take note of, but also Chinas strategic investments in Indias neighbourhood, including the Indian Ocean region, and the military assistance that Pakistan has been getting from the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. The war in Afghanistan-Pakistan, rise of China and growing military build-up in the Indian Ocean region by all maritime powers have altered Indias security environment in the past few years. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh famously said, it is not the intentions of each of the players that matter, or ought to matter, but the capabilities. India cannot remain oblivious to the growing strategic capabilities of its neighbours and others in its neighbourhood.
In the face of such worrying changes, the government of the United Progressive Alliance has adopted a lackadaisical approach to investment in the countrys military modernisation and defence preparedness. All the three services army, navy and air force are in dire need of additional funding. Securing budgetary support is not the real problem. Even when allocations have been made, the defence ministry has been unable to spend. This is partly due to the ministrys reduced capacity to handle complex equipment acquisition processes, and partly due to its reticence. Human resources at the defence ministry, from top to bottom, are in dire need of upgradation. The government must also open up the defence equipment industry to private sector players to improve the productivity of public spending at home.
