Defence May Get Rs 4,900cr Extra-Budgetary Allocation

PARLIAMENTARY PANEL REPORTS

The defence sector is likely to receive an unprecedented extra-budgetary allocation of Rs 4,900 crore over the 1997-98 provision of Rs 35,620 crore following the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on defence.

The huge amount of money has been sought for speeding up modernisation programmes for tanks, aircraft, ships and submarines. The forces have sounded alarm bells over slow government sanctions for upgradations.

The ministry has told the 42-member committee that it would need an additional Rs 4,901 crore over the budget estimates for meeting requirements of various services and departments.

The government had made an allocation of Rs 1,500 crore during 1996-97 outside of the budgetary allocation for defence following the recommendations of the standing committee. This was made after the defence ministry complained that the allocation was insufficient to meet capital and modernisation costs. The committee report, tabled in the Lok Sabha yesterday, pointed that it was not satisfied with the assurance of finance minister P Chidambaram about meeting capital expenditure as and when required because defence acquisitions are time consuming processes which cannot be based on vague promises. The committee felt that rapid modernisation of the armed forces was necessary to keep pace with changing security needs and recommended that the allocation for defence services for 1997-98 should be enhanced adequately for meeting the various modernisation and re-equipment plans that have stagnated in recent years.

 

In a significant recommendation, the committee said the intermediate range ballistic missile project, Agni, should be taken to its logical conclusion where it could contribute to the defence and deterrence capabilities of the country.

It has been the governments consistent stand that the Agni project which can launch a missile up to 2,500 km, has completed its technology demonstration phase and the government would take it up again according to its threat perception. Critics have pointed out that Agni, Indias most potent weapon, has been capped under pressure from the United States.

The standing committee said, India has no option but to continue to develop and upgrade its missile capabilities for deterrence against any adventurist intentions of a hostile country.

The committee said it considered that missiles have become the key components of modern military machines and an idiom of a countrys political

and strategic diplomacy. Maintaining the capabilities of a country take a long time to build up while the intentions of countries could change overnight, the committee said that India could not forget that a number of high and low intensity wars were imposed on it during the 50 years since independence.