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3 percent GDP share urged for Indian armed forces
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee headed by a Congress MP here has decried the declining defence share in the government budget and the finance ministry slashing funds to the armed forces.
Asserting that three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be reserved for defence services every year to ensure a fixed amount for carrying out modernisation, acquisitions, research and fulfilment of the need-based requirements, the committee pointed out that the defence share in the budget has fallen compared to previous years and many earlier years standing at 14.11 percent in 2007-08 while its share of the GDP has also continuously declined to be 2.07 per cent now.
In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Saturday by its chairman, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, the committee rejected the Finance Ministryâs plea of the unresolved debate on the âguns versus butter choiceâ, a political choice, for not linking defence budget with GDP and justifying the defence expenditure as percentage of GDP continuously falling from 2.50 per cent in 1991-92 to 2.07 per cent in 2007-08.
A Finance Ministry representative had sought to argue before the committee that âin a country like India which has a large segments of disadvantaged, not included in the growth process as the GDP grows, a larger amount should be allocated to the welfare of those people rather than spending it more on arms and ammunition.â
Referring to the Finance Ministryâs plea that the defence budget is decided keeping in view âoverall resource position of the government and also various compelling needs of different sectors,â the committee felt that the defence sector needs a different treatment as it strongly recommended that the government must allocate the amount as projected by the Defence services to avoid resource crunch in defence acquisitions and modernisation since otherwise it would adversely affect the countryâs defence preparedness.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2007_pg4_22
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee headed by a Congress MP here has decried the declining defence share in the government budget and the finance ministry slashing funds to the armed forces.
Asserting that three per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should be reserved for defence services every year to ensure a fixed amount for carrying out modernisation, acquisitions, research and fulfilment of the need-based requirements, the committee pointed out that the defence share in the budget has fallen compared to previous years and many earlier years standing at 14.11 percent in 2007-08 while its share of the GDP has also continuously declined to be 2.07 per cent now.
In a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Saturday by its chairman, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, the committee rejected the Finance Ministryâs plea of the unresolved debate on the âguns versus butter choiceâ, a political choice, for not linking defence budget with GDP and justifying the defence expenditure as percentage of GDP continuously falling from 2.50 per cent in 1991-92 to 2.07 per cent in 2007-08.
A Finance Ministry representative had sought to argue before the committee that âin a country like India which has a large segments of disadvantaged, not included in the growth process as the GDP grows, a larger amount should be allocated to the welfare of those people rather than spending it more on arms and ammunition.â
Referring to the Finance Ministryâs plea that the defence budget is decided keeping in view âoverall resource position of the government and also various compelling needs of different sectors,â the committee felt that the defence sector needs a different treatment as it strongly recommended that the government must allocate the amount as projected by the Defence services to avoid resource crunch in defence acquisitions and modernisation since otherwise it would adversely affect the countryâs defence preparedness.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-4-2007_pg4_22
