Higher Indian defence spending fails to bring cheer
By Y.P. Rajesh
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -
The government raised its defence spending on Wednesday by an expected 7.8 percent to nearly $22 billion for 2007/08, but the increase was not expected to speed up the modernisation of one of the world's largest militaries.
New Delhi, the developing world's biggest buyer of arms, has a shopping list of fighter jets, helicopters, cargo planes, missiles, radars, naval patrol aircraft and artillery for its 1.3 million-strong force.
However, the latest increase in funding was roughly in line with inflation and defence analysts said spending had fallen as a percentage of GDP due to fiscal pressures and larger outlays for health, education and the flagging farm sector.
This would ensure modernisation remained incremental at a time India's security needs were multiplying and neighbours China and Pakistan were paying more attention to their militaries, they said.
"This increase is neither here nor there," said C. Uday Bhaskar of New Delhi's Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. "The fact that funds allotted for modernisation last year were not fully utilised is also not very encouraging."
"Arms purchase procedures are not as nimble and as quick as they ought to be," he said, adding that this had resulted in part of each of the past three years' budgets remaining unspent. "There is a need to address this lacuna now more so than ever."
India, which has the world's fourth largest military, embarked on an ambitious plan to modernise its largely Soviet-era arms in the late 1990s as it began to assert its political and military power in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
Over the past three years, it has bought fighter and trainer jets, an aircraft carrier, submarines, missiles, radars and electronic warfare systems, making it the developing world's biggest arms buyer in 2004 and 2005.
However, much more needs to be acquired to replace ageing equipment, with no room for complacency despite peace on its frontiers with China and Pakistan, with whom it has fought wars, defence analysts said.
Besides, a career in the military needs to be made more lucrative to attract high-quality recruits to handle modern weapons at a time India's booming economy was driving youngsters towards better-paying jobs, they said.
Purchases, however, have been slow and staggered as running costs account for about 60 percent of the defence budget, which is expected to be hit this year by inflation hovering close to 7 percent.
Also, decision-making has been slow as politicians and bureaucrats are wary of approving purchases after a series of arms purchase scandals since the late 1980s.
"India is sitting on Asia's hotbed of jihadi fervour on one hand and has China to its north which is spending phenomenal amounts of money on its military," said Bharat Verma, editor of the Indian Defence Review.
"When you look at that scenario, a few dollars here and a few dollars there is not going to really kickstart the modernisation process," he said.
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