Budget 2018: India needs defence acquisition regulator

An independent regulator will force all decision-making entities to agree on a plan that is in line with the requirements of the armed forces and the finances of the country

As Budget 2018 approaches, the first order of business for those in defence will be to examine the allocations made. Once again, there will be debates around the appropriateness of defence spending, if amounts allocated are reasonable, if a higher spend is warranted even though we know it goes towards revenue expenditure, and, most importantly, if we have enough money to buy the equipment we need to ensure that our armed forces are combat ready. In light of increased security threats and the observations made in the recently tabled Parliamentary Standing Committee Reports on Defence (Reports 35 and 36), it