Policing gets priority in the wake of 26/11 attacks

SECURITY: States get a huge amount of money for security-related expenditure.

A lthough allocations for defence have been stepped up substantially, citing India’s security, quietly, the Home Ministry has also beefed up its capital and manpower requirements.

The sharpest increase is in the non-plan outlay for the Home Ministry. Whether it is the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP) or the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), non-plan outlays have gone up sharply. For the CRPF, for instance, non-plan Budget estimates for 2008-09 were Rs 4,219 crore. This has gone up to Rs 7,207 crore in the Interim Budget.

Similarly, for the ITBP, that polices the Indo-Tibetan border in UP, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir, non-plan outlays have gone up from Rs 1,010 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 1,574 crore in the Interim Budget.

The outlay for the CISF, the force that guards central installations including airports has increased from Rs 1,344 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 2,481 crore in the 2009-10.

The outlays for the Home Ministry accordingly have increased. From Rs 21,715 crore in 2008-09, the budget has gone up to Rs 32,151 crore. This is an increase over the revised estimates of Rs 25,439 crore.

Interestingly, states have got a huge amount of money for security-related expenditure. No budget was allotted for police modernisation in the states in the Budget in 2008-09. From zero, a sum of Rs 245 crore has been allotted. The total money by way of assistance to states has gone up from zero to Rs 1,383 crore, reflecting the new security and policing priorities of the government following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Allocations for the Special Protection Group (SPG) has gone up from Rs 170 crore to Rs 226 crore. Interestingly, the outlays for prison administration — to address deficiencies and construction of additional jails to reduce overcrowding — has been slashed from Rs 67 crore in 2008-09 to just Rs 5 crore in 2009-10.