Letters: Cost-effective defence

This refers to Ajai Shukla's column "Pressing the reset button in MoD" (Broadsword, May 27). Revenue costs, including staff-related costs, have gone up disproportionately. Be it jawans doubling up as personal servants of officers, Raj trappings and perks, the misuse or overuse of CSD and other facilities such as medical, travel and so on by friends and relatives of ex-armed forces' officers - all these problems are well-known. These schemes should be reviewed in the context of the significant pay rise carried out in the last decade.

There are huge inefficiencies and potential corruption in procurement and on-going contracts. Apart from having the appropriate equipment and logistics, there have been worries about how long can the Indian armed forces' ammunition and supplies last in the event of a big engagement. The government should also make public the 10-year cost of any post-retirement facility to government and defence employees, like inflation-indexing and one-rank-one-pension scheme. The questioning of cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of defence revenue expenditure should not be treated as either unpatriotic or ungrateful for the stellar service rendered by Indians in uniform. It should be remembered that the police and para-military forces often carry same or more risks, and get a fraction of the benefits.

P Datta, Kolkata

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