Ahead of the parliamentary polls in April-May, the government on Monday announced its interim budget of Rs 953,231 crore proposed expenditure. However, one of the highlights of the tabled allocation is the whooping 34% hike in defence outlay.
A sum of Rs 141,703 crore has been allocated compared to last year’s revised expenditure of 1,14,600 crore, the highest since 2004-05. India’s defence expenditure has jumped to 2.35 per cent of the GDP against the 1.97 per cent of 2008-09.
“The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism. A threshold has been crossed. Our security environment has been deteriorated considerably,” Mukherjee told Parliament on Monday while presenting the budget.
The security threats after the Mumbai attacks have prompted the government to increase its defence expenditure in order to modernise the whole military strength. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) continues to expand military expenditure to an unprecedented scale. However, the vulnerability of internal security remains the same.
In the interim allocation for defence, Rs 54,824 crore have been allotted as capital expenditure against the Rs 41,000 crore revised estimation for 2008-09. The Ministry of Defence has got a greater share, though as per reports it is yet to spend over Rs 7,000 crore of the assigned Rs 48,007 crore last year.
Moreover, the outlaid Rs 86,879 crore as revenue expenditure will go as increased salary of armed force personnel on account of the Sixth Pay Commission. In comparison, the capital expenditure is insubstantial and hence government’s effort to revamp the whole security infrastructure needs further boost.
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