Def ministry gives 2020-25 fund projection to 15th finance commission

The Fifteenth Finance Commission, headed by N K Singh, held a meeting here with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and ministry officials on Friday during which the panel was given the fund projection for 2020-25, a statement said.

The ministry informed the commission about the allocated budget in comparison to the projections made.

During the meeting, the ministry gave its fund projections for 2020-2025, which is also the award period of the 15th Finance Commission.

Ministry officials apprised the commission that it was exploring a number of alternative sources of funding, the statement said.

The finance commission assured the ministry that it would take into consideration all suggestions that would help increase the overall capital space of the ministry, bring about predictability and help the ministry in its defence preparedness, it said.

The Union Finance Ministry had last month come up with a notification that read: "By this order, the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission was amended and Paragraph 9A was inserted in the ToR namely: The Commission shall also examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up, and if so, how such a mechanism could be operationalised.

It is in follow-up of this revised ToR that meeting was held.

It was attended by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Devraj Anbu, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Director General, Coast Guard Krishnaswamy Natarajan and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar among others.