Defence spending in austere times

The unusually low 5 per cent increase in allocation in the Budget calls for unorthodox solutions to fund the military

When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while delivering her Budget speech, shared no details of how much she was allocating to defence, the writing was on the wall: There was going to be only a token rise. This apprehension proved valid when the numbers appeared and it emerged the government had raised defence spending by an unusually low 5 per cent — insufficient to cater for even inflation. The government has made it clear it prioritises spending on education, healthcare and creating national infrastructure, as a result of which the share of the military in the Centre’s overall allocations has steadily