Op-ed: India Defense Budget Cuts; a Good Sign for Progress of Region | PKKH.tv
PKKH Exclusvie | by Atiq Durrani
Indian Finance Minister P.Chidambaram presented the much anticipated budget for the coming recent years (2013-2014) on Thursday. P.Chidambaram described the budget plan totaling $309 billion that is 16% greater than the last year (2012-2013).
Although India has allocated Rs. 2.03 trillion for defence, much more compared to the defence budget of Pakistan but still it will be appreciated by the neighbouring countries because the defence budget is increased only by 5%, compared to 17% the previous year.
Indian government decided to cut the defence budget by Rs.14, 000 crore because of the fiscal crises due to the slow growth of the Indian economy in recent years. Indian Defence Ministry officials said that the budget cut will affect the acquisitions of the new weapon systems that have been either put on hold or delayed.
Indian Army Chief, Vijay Kumar Singh described Alarming state of military and warned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not to neglect the modernization of the army by a letter written in March 2012. Reduction of the defence budget is also criticized by the defence analysts in India, it is said that defence budget is already a matter of serious concern because India is having potential security threats from its neighboring countries for which the up gradation of the weapon system is required but the gigantic reduction in the defence budget will aggravate the problems.
If we try to find these so called potential security threats and study the relations of India with its neighboring countries we can easily find that most of the problems of India with its neighboring countries are self-generated by India only.
Starting with Pakistan, Pakistan and China are the two neighbors that reject Indias domination; because of this India have worst relations with both China and Pakistan. In 1971 India played a major role in the separation of East Pakistan. Today India wants to repeat that in Baluchistan by supporting insurgency in Baluchistan through its consulates along Afghanistan-Baluchistan border and its agents operating inside Balochistan. *At the same time India is illegally occupying Sir Creek, the Siachin Glacier, the Saltoro Mountains and the state of Kashmir.
India also doesnt have best relations with China. *India went on war with china in 1962 over a border dispute. India provokes China by hoisting the Dalai Lama off and on to keep the issue of Tibet alive. India is having disputes with China over areas of Aksai Chin and India also aligned itself with America to contain China.
Although India does not share its border with Afghanistan but India used its consulates in Afghanistan for exporting terror to Pakistan in the name of infrastructure development. The growing Indian influence in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for Pakistan. Recently President Barack Obamas Defence Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has said; what Pakistani leaders and media are saying from long time that India has for many years sponsored terrorist activities against Pakistan in Afghanistan.
India has supported the insurgency against the state in Sri Lanka by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Jaffna for decades. India is also having a dispute on Katchatheevu island, given to Sri Lanka by India in 1974; in 2001 Tamil Government called to return the island but Sri Lanka neglected this request.
Nepal is a landlocked country and entirely dependent on the Indian ports for sea cargo but India has always denied Nepal right of transit. India illegally occupied the areas of Kalapani and Susta that belong to Nepal. In 1985 it armed and trained Ramraja P. Singh in India to conduct various terrorist activities in Nepal where several innocent civilian were killed. Similarly India has illegally occupied the areas of Padua, part of Sylhet Division and the*South Talpatti Island from Bangladesh in 1971.
Now just go through these figures published by the human rights groups and the Punjab judiciary to know the internal security situation of India, Indian government has killed almost 94,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, about 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947 and thousands of other Indians like Assamese, Tamils, Manipuris, Dalits etc. Naxalite are active in 180 districts and 10 states of India, these figures clearly show how India deals with its people.
Spending money on defense and creating problems for neighbors is not a solution to any of the social problems of India. India is not only denying the basic needs of its people but it is also destabilizing the strategic balance in the region and dragging the neighboring countries in arms race started by India.
Indian government is busy in improving military might but socially the Indian state has all the social indicators of a failed state. According to the latest figures released by the Government of India, a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes. Indians capital New Delhi is known as rape capital now. According to latest data of the Union Home Ministry, India stands third in the world when it comes to rape cases, ahead of India are only the United States and South Africa. Despite the increase in sexual violence the number of convictions is falling in Bharat. India is rated 3rd in world poor but has the worlds 9th largest defence budget. In 2012, Indias defense budget stood at Rs 193,407 crore (US$ 38.58 billion). In 2011 India was the worlds 7th largest defense spender. Approximately 1/3 of Indias GDP is spent on defense every year.
According to Mr. Prem Sagar the defense and economic expert of India, 0.9 billion people of India earn only Rs.20 per day,*of which 0.5 billion people earn Rs.10 only,*of which 250 million earn Rs.5 and 50 million Indians dont earn anything.*The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain; the Indian Government has announced. The number of people living in slums was projected to rise to 93 million in 2011 or 7.75 percent of the total population. Indias 500,000 villages dont have water and only 26% of the slum population has access to safe drinking water. More than 122 million households have no toilets and 33% lack access to latrines, over 50% of the population (638 million) defecates in the open. India is ranked 3rd among the countries with the most number of HIV-infected. India has the worlds highest number of diabetic cases and expected hypertensive individuals in 2025 will be 214 million.
Neighboring countries of India will appreciate the reduction in the defense budget of India. This will not only help India to concentrate on its internal social problem but will also encourage the neighboring countries to reduce their military expenditure and concentrate on the development projects of the country.
India always ignored its people and concentrated on occupying land of other countries, sponsoring insurgencies, creating economic and political problems for its neighboring countries but India can play the role of soft power in the region by solving its problems with neighboring countries like China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal through dialogue and try to improve bilateral relations with them so that India can not only focus on curbing down poverty, illiteracy, population explosion, health problems and corruption itself but also help the neighboring countries in doing so. This will not only bring peace in the region but India along with its neighbors will be able to spend most of their budget on the welfare of their people and on development projects.
Atiq Durrani is an IT professional and student of Mass Communication. Can be reached at*atiq.pkkh@gmail.com and tweets at @sunnyDurrani738
[URL="http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/2013/03/03/op-ed-india-defense-budget-cuts-a-good-sign-for-progress-of-region/"]Source
PKKH Exclusvie | by Atiq Durrani
Indian Finance Minister P.Chidambaram presented the much anticipated budget for the coming recent years (2013-2014) on Thursday. P.Chidambaram described the budget plan totaling $309 billion that is 16% greater than the last year (2012-2013).
Although India has allocated Rs. 2.03 trillion for defence, much more compared to the defence budget of Pakistan but still it will be appreciated by the neighbouring countries because the defence budget is increased only by 5%, compared to 17% the previous year.
Indian government decided to cut the defence budget by Rs.14, 000 crore because of the fiscal crises due to the slow growth of the Indian economy in recent years. Indian Defence Ministry officials said that the budget cut will affect the acquisitions of the new weapon systems that have been either put on hold or delayed.
Indian Army Chief, Vijay Kumar Singh described Alarming state of military and warned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not to neglect the modernization of the army by a letter written in March 2012. Reduction of the defence budget is also criticized by the defence analysts in India, it is said that defence budget is already a matter of serious concern because India is having potential security threats from its neighboring countries for which the up gradation of the weapon system is required but the gigantic reduction in the defence budget will aggravate the problems.
If we try to find these so called potential security threats and study the relations of India with its neighboring countries we can easily find that most of the problems of India with its neighboring countries are self-generated by India only.
Starting with Pakistan, Pakistan and China are the two neighbors that reject Indias domination; because of this India have worst relations with both China and Pakistan. In 1971 India played a major role in the separation of East Pakistan. Today India wants to repeat that in Baluchistan by supporting insurgency in Baluchistan through its consulates along Afghanistan-Baluchistan border and its agents operating inside Balochistan. *At the same time India is illegally occupying Sir Creek, the Siachin Glacier, the Saltoro Mountains and the state of Kashmir.
India also doesnt have best relations with China. *India went on war with china in 1962 over a border dispute. India provokes China by hoisting the Dalai Lama off and on to keep the issue of Tibet alive. India is having disputes with China over areas of Aksai Chin and India also aligned itself with America to contain China.
Although India does not share its border with Afghanistan but India used its consulates in Afghanistan for exporting terror to Pakistan in the name of infrastructure development. The growing Indian influence in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for Pakistan. Recently President Barack Obamas Defence Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has said; what Pakistani leaders and media are saying from long time that India has for many years sponsored terrorist activities against Pakistan in Afghanistan.
India has supported the insurgency against the state in Sri Lanka by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Jaffna for decades. India is also having a dispute on Katchatheevu island, given to Sri Lanka by India in 1974; in 2001 Tamil Government called to return the island but Sri Lanka neglected this request.
Nepal is a landlocked country and entirely dependent on the Indian ports for sea cargo but India has always denied Nepal right of transit. India illegally occupied the areas of Kalapani and Susta that belong to Nepal. In 1985 it armed and trained Ramraja P. Singh in India to conduct various terrorist activities in Nepal where several innocent civilian were killed. Similarly India has illegally occupied the areas of Padua, part of Sylhet Division and the*South Talpatti Island from Bangladesh in 1971.
Now just go through these figures published by the human rights groups and the Punjab judiciary to know the internal security situation of India, Indian government has killed almost 94,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, about 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947 and thousands of other Indians like Assamese, Tamils, Manipuris, Dalits etc. Naxalite are active in 180 districts and 10 states of India, these figures clearly show how India deals with its people.
Spending money on defense and creating problems for neighbors is not a solution to any of the social problems of India. India is not only denying the basic needs of its people but it is also destabilizing the strategic balance in the region and dragging the neighboring countries in arms race started by India.
Indian government is busy in improving military might but socially the Indian state has all the social indicators of a failed state. According to the latest figures released by the Government of India, a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes. Indians capital New Delhi is known as rape capital now. According to latest data of the Union Home Ministry, India stands third in the world when it comes to rape cases, ahead of India are only the United States and South Africa. Despite the increase in sexual violence the number of convictions is falling in Bharat. India is rated 3rd in world poor but has the worlds 9th largest defence budget. In 2012, Indias defense budget stood at Rs 193,407 crore (US$ 38.58 billion). In 2011 India was the worlds 7th largest defense spender. Approximately 1/3 of Indias GDP is spent on defense every year.
According to Mr. Prem Sagar the defense and economic expert of India, 0.9 billion people of India earn only Rs.20 per day,*of which 0.5 billion people earn Rs.10 only,*of which 250 million earn Rs.5 and 50 million Indians dont earn anything.*The number of people living in slums in India has more than doubled in the past two decades and now exceeds the entire population of Britain; the Indian Government has announced. The number of people living in slums was projected to rise to 93 million in 2011 or 7.75 percent of the total population. Indias 500,000 villages dont have water and only 26% of the slum population has access to safe drinking water. More than 122 million households have no toilets and 33% lack access to latrines, over 50% of the population (638 million) defecates in the open. India is ranked 3rd among the countries with the most number of HIV-infected. India has the worlds highest number of diabetic cases and expected hypertensive individuals in 2025 will be 214 million.
Neighboring countries of India will appreciate the reduction in the defense budget of India. This will not only help India to concentrate on its internal social problem but will also encourage the neighboring countries to reduce their military expenditure and concentrate on the development projects of the country.
India always ignored its people and concentrated on occupying land of other countries, sponsoring insurgencies, creating economic and political problems for its neighboring countries but India can play the role of soft power in the region by solving its problems with neighboring countries like China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Nepal through dialogue and try to improve bilateral relations with them so that India can not only focus on curbing down poverty, illiteracy, population explosion, health problems and corruption itself but also help the neighboring countries in doing so. This will not only bring peace in the region but India along with its neighbors will be able to spend most of their budget on the welfare of their people and on development projects.
Atiq Durrani is an IT professional and student of Mass Communication. Can be reached at*atiq.pkkh@gmail.com and tweets at @sunnyDurrani738
[URL="http://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/2013/03/03/op-ed-india-defense-budget-cuts-a-good-sign-for-progress-of-region/"]Source
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