Army sounds alarm on budgetary squeeze highlights China,Pakistan's rapid defence modernisation pace

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

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DEATH BY BUDGET: Is This The Indian Army’s Angriest Report To Government?


The Indian Army has had enough. And it has chosen to vent its anger in an unusually candid tone to India’s Parliamentary committee on defence, a body that shines a light on military preparedness every year. Asked about how budgetary constrictions are squeezing its plans and hampering preparedness, the Army has let loose a salvo of honest indignation hitherto unseen within the usually decorous testimony that make up such reports. Invoking the pace of defence modernisation in China and Pakistan, the Army has done what appears to be the equivalent of rolling its sleeves up and walking out of the room:

“Modernisation of both Pakistan and China is going on in full swing. China is competing to reach the levels of US. It is important that we remain deterrent as far as these are concerned. The possibility of two front war is a reality and speaking about it, it is important that we are conscious of the issue and we pay attention to our modernisation and filling up our deficiencies. More than ever, there is an increasing obligation to ensure that our Nation cements its military capability and is recognised as a net security provider in the South Asian region. However, the current Budget does little to contribute to this requirement.”

The Army’s testimony across 13 pages raises the sort of alarm not seen in recent memory, pointing out with an air bordering on frustration, that its modernisation budget isn’t even enough to cater for committed payments — instalments for signed deals. The Army’s apparent frustration with the death spiral of budgetary pressures is so extreme, it has even invoked a recent terrorist attack in which Pakistani terrorists entered a family accommodation area of the Army’s Sunjuwan cantonement in Jammu & Kashmir to push home the point that its hands are tied. Its indignation also stretches to how the Indian government’s new , politically contentious Goods & Services Tax (GST) has added a burden to its financial commitments, without being taken care of in the actual budget. Here’s the operative part of the Army’s testimony:

Even more ominously, the Army has said it is not sure what the future holds on the modernisation front when it comes to the Make in India projects it has embarked on. Warning that 25 such projects could be ‘foreclosed’ because of the ‘kind of budget that has been allocated’.

Read the full Parliamentary Standing Committee report report here.


https://www.livefistdefence.com/201...dian-armys-angriest-report-to-government.html

https://twitter.com/x/status/973528481740087297

 

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

Army says it lacks funds to buy ammunition, counter China, Pakistan


The army has painted a very grim picture of its financial status, saying it does not have sufficient money to make emergency purchase planned after the Pathankot and Uri terror strikes, procure ammunition and build strategic roads along the Chinese border.

Setting off alarm bells about how a lack of funds was crippling its capabilities, the army told a Parliamentary panel that the threat of a two-front war with Pakistan and China was real and it was crucial to pay attention to the military’s modernisation and plugging yawning gaps in capabilities.

A series of reports tabled in Parliament on Tuesday revealed that an allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation was barely enough for the committed payment of Rs 29,033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes and emergency procurements. There’s also a shortfall of Rs 6,380 crore to build up ammunition stocks for fighting 10 days of intense war.

Read:Indian Army to launch fresh hunt for weapons worth Rs 45,000 crore

Army’s vice chief Lieutenant General Sarath Chand told the panel, “Budget of 2018-19 has dashed our hopes and most of what has been achieved has actually received a little setback. The marginal increase in budgetary estimates barely accounts for inflation and does not even cater for taxes.”

The army told the panel that the military should get its due and more attention should be paid to it, stressing that the armies of Pakistan and China were modernising at a very swift pace.

The army told the panel that it was saddled with old weapons and systems — 68 % of its equipment is vintage, 24% current and only 8% state of the art. It also said there was not enough allocation to buy ammunition, spares and armament after the Pathankot, Nagrota and Uri terror strikes.

Also, it has emerged that the army is short of Rs 902 crore to build strategic roads along the Chinese border.

Only 14% of the army budget goes into modernisation and it should be around 25%, the panel was told.

“The threat perception has been ever increasing... we have the Doklam issue going on and China has become increasingly assertive. We have seen more and more patrolling and transgressions. Activities in Tibet has also increased over a period of years whether it is the quantum of troops or whether it is the number of personnel undertaking the exercises and also the level of exercises,” an army representative told the panel, making a strong case for pushing modernisation.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...na-pakistan/story-4bfbXOgIreRlRvrmDN0SxL.html

 

[Taimoor Khan]

Very strange. In public they say that India will make Pakistan bone dry in this arms race while in private they are moaning about rapid advancement of Pakistan armed forces with India falling short.

 

[MBT 3000]

ha ha super powa

 

[Mumm-Ra]

Nothing new in services presenting their case to get a bigger chunk of the budget. That sorta inter services rivalry is common. It is amusing though that IA used the same tactic as GOI. GOI(whichever party) blames Pak for everything to get votes and IA is doing the same to get a bigger allocation of funds.

 

[Areesh]

Indian government should increase military budget 100% in one go.

Enough of this whining. After all this is the reason we have such kind of reports and statements.

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

The Indian civil bureaucrats are clever folks - one of the best among the non-British!!! They have already figured out that fighting Pak or China in open wars is a non-starter!!! Why to spend money on egos of the Uniformed folks, who in the Indian perspective lack the intellectual depth of their civilian counterparts!!! For example RAW is run by civil beurocrats and has quite a successful track record (including creating BD) - I have to admit...

The Indian male folks' potential is best gauged from the dowry offered during their marriage!!! I am pretty sure the military folks can't make it within 10% of the dowry awarded to the civil ones!!!! In the case of the IAF, the flow might have got reversed....

**Dowry is the barometer of the social recognition of achievement as per my knowledgeable Indian colleagues - it's no stigma....