 "Army, Defence")
The 36th report of the 17th Lok Sabha’s standing committee on defence, which was tabled before Parliament on March 21, reveals that an unduly high proportion of the Army’s war-fighting equipment remains obsolescent.
While discussing the recommendation made in 2018 by the standing committee on defence that one-third of the Army’s equipment must be state-of-the-art and one-third in the contemporary category, the remaining one-third could be vintage equipment, an Army representative stated: “You are right. It was 30:40:30. Thirty per cent was to be new-generation (new-gen) equipment, 40 per cent to be current equipment, and 30 per cent could be older-generation equipment. Currently, the situation is, approximately, 15 per cent is new-gen equipment, around 40 per cent is current equipment, and the balance is older-generation equipment. So, this is the transition we have to go about. There is some time to go before we can reach the ideal state of 30:40:30.”
The standing committee report also reveals that the Army has been allocated a significantly lower budget than it had projected as its requirement – both under revenue and capital heads.
In the preceding five years leading up to the present — that is, 2018-19 through 2022-23 (FY23) — the Army has been allocated 6.5 per cent to 26 per cent less funding than it has demanded under revenue head. The allocation shortfall under capital head has been even larger during the same period – between 35 per cent and 55 per cent. Only in the current year’s Budget for 2023-24, has the Army received almost the same amount it has projected as its requirement. Under revenue head, the Army has been allocated Rs 1.81 trillion – Rs 3,619 crore less than its projected Rs 1.84 trillion. Under capital head, it has been allocated Rs 37,342 crore – exactly the amount it had asked for.
In recommending that the Army must be allocated the funding it has demanded, the standing committee has played up its role.
“The Army strengthens the idea of India and lives by national values. The Army is dedicated to preserving national interests, safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of our Nation.
The challenges before the Army include thwarting proxy wars, arresting internal threats, assisting the government and the people of India during all needs and crises, such as natural disasters, etc,” says the report.
According to the report, the financial advisor (defence services) clarified the shortfalls in the Army’s capital allocations.
“The budgetary allocations for defence are a function of two aspects. One is the demands projected by the Army, based on its requirements, and the other is the expenditure it has been incurring in the past. It is a balance of both,” he said.
“In the past five-six years, the expenditure of the Army, as far as capital is concerned, has been in the range of Rs 25,000-28,000 crore… During the current year, it has been increased to Rs 37,000 crore. It is based on the demand the Army has projected. It has already been increased,” said the financial advisor (defence services).
Underscoring the defence ministry’s readiness to expedite capital procurements for the Army, the standing committee reveals that the ministry had accorded the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) in 29 acquisition cases worth about Rs 60,679 crore.
The AoN has been accorded in 2021-22, and in FY23 (up to December 2022). It is at different stages of the acquisition process for the induction of equipment into service during the subsequent years.
