The defence ministry has initiated work on the ninth defence plan which is expected to have an outlay of about Rs 150,000 crore. The funds will be used to finance regular acquisitions of the three services and the activities of Defence Research and Develop-ment Organisation (DRDO) among other things.
The defence plan is a part of the ninth five year plan for the period 1997-2002. This is the first time in the last 10 years that planning has begun in the defence ministry well before the start of the plan period. There was no defence plan during the seventh plan and the eighth defence plan was finalised only in the terminal year.
Sources said the defence plan will integrate strategic planning and financial planning so that the government could prepare well ahead to fund priority requirements. Every major weapon induction, creation of bases, force movements and upgradation\ repairs will be evaluated in terms of money to give a clear cost-benefit perspective, said the sources.
Internal approach papers of various departments of the three services and DRDO have shown a steady increase in resources allocation. DRDO has sought a near-doubling of its share of the defence budget, from 5.5 per cent to 10 per cent a year during the ninth plan. The DRDO has successfully lobbied for itself that if it received more funds, it would help the nation save foreign exchange.
A higher allocation for DRDO was needed to meet its target of 70 per cent indigenisation of all defence hardware during the next 13 years. The DRDO has sought contracts for Indian companies and itself during weapons purchases. In the recent sale of Sukhoi-30 fighters, the DRDO has obtained technology from Russia for certain critical sub-systems of the aircraft and will produce them indigenously.
Despite witnessing an increase of about 5 per cent to 10 per cent a year, the defence budget had seen a fall in real terms during the last five years of Congress rule. The 1996-97 budget, at Rs 27, 819 crore was a 10 per cent mark-up over the previous year. The first year of the National Front government reversed this trend thanks to a post-budgetary allocation of Rs 1,200 crore.
The ninth defence plan is expected to advocate reasons for an increase of around 20 per cent compounded annual hike during the next five years. A proportionately higher share would be earmarked for new acquisitions, said the source.
The plan exercise began about four months ago and is hoped to be ready by the time the overall ninth plan is finalised. The exercise is an assertion that funds for the country's defence should be looked upon as a long-term requirement needing commitment from the government while finalising successive budgets.
The hastening of the planning exercise appears to have been prompted by the parliamentary standing committee on defence which in its March 1996 report said, the committee expects the ministry to take adequate remedial measures to overcome the drawbacks noticed in the earlier plans and to ensure that finalisation of the ninth defence plan would be completed well ahead of the beginning of the plan
