Govt may cut down on defence budget: PM

[Sashan]

Did you know 3000 children die of starvation each year in India?
I'd argue that the food security bill is more important than weapons procurement.

India's hunger 'shame': 3,000 children die every day, despite economic growth - World News



Starving in India: The Forgotten Problem - India Real Time - WSJ

The objection to the FSB is due to the fact it is going to cover 66% of the population which is a farce. The population covered under BPL(Below Poverty Line) is around 30% as per the World bank. Why not target just that population while spending the remaining money for defense? Afterall India was attacked for centuries by invaders and most recently in 1961 when India was half prepared with her defenses.

But there is also a stark question on the food grains stored in the Government storage units which is going waste. If Indian Government gets its act right that food is sufficient to cater to the BPL population. And there would be no need for FSB.

But as I mentioned above, defense is equally important for India and India can't be seen as not being prepared as it is surrounded by two nuclear-armed countries.

 

[Contrarian]

Did you know 3000 children die of starvation each year in India?
I'd argue that the food security bill is more important than weapons procurement.

India's hunger 'shame': 3,000 children die every day, despite economic growth - World News

The issue is of corruption.

A majority of the money would be siphoned off. Therefore the money is better spent by the Armed Forces.

If even 70% intended money for Food Security Bill reached the citizens, then people wont complain.

 

[kseeker]

Whatever the intentions are, this is a good move; at least for Indian tax payers.

Less budget, less corruption !

 

[JanjaWeed]

Ah... there you go again. Same old worn out cliched c$£p about poverty, & why spend money on defence procurement!

Did you know 3000 children die of starvation each year in India?
I'd argue that the food security bill is more important than weapons procurement.

India's hunger 'shame': 3,000 children die every day, despite economic growth - World News



Starving in India: The Forgotten Problem - India Real Time - WSJ

& you think those schemes were brought in keeping the above in mind? & do you know the effectiveness of these gimmicks & did they really help in reducing the misery of underprivileged?
Those schemes are nothing but political gimmicks. Real development & poverty elevation is taking place due to other reasons instead of these schemes. These schemes are nothing but a way to siphon off budgeted amount by the people in power. You need to understand the internal dynamics in India to know how these things really work.

 

[Chronos]

Ah... there you go. Same old worn out cliched c$£p about poverty, & why spend money on defence procurement!




& you think those schemes were brought in keeping the above in mind? & do you know the effectiveness of these gimmicks & did they really help in reducing the misery of underprivileged?
Those schemes are nothing but political gimmicks. Real development & poverty elevation is taking place due to other reasons instead of these schemes. These schemes are nothing but a way siphon off the budgeted amount by people in power. You need to understand the internal dynamics in India to know how these thinks really work.

Also the biggest factor in extreme poverty reduction for the last two decades over the globe has been economic developmentdevelopment

 

[Abingdonboy]

The PM didn't say the defencE budget would be cut- in any way. This is the media twisting things as usual.

 

[UKBengali]

The PM didn't say the defencE budget would be cut- in any way. This is the media twisting things as usual.

India will find it difficult to finance all the planned projects if the economy does not grow by more than the forecast 6-7% a year into the future.

 

[Abingdonboy]

India will find it difficult to finance all the planned projects if the economy does not grow by more than the forecast 6-7% a year into the future.

Based on what pal? India is spending less than 2% of its GDP on defence, as long as its economy keeps growing there will be no such issues- at all. It's common sense.

FY2013-14 will see around 3.5-3.7% growth, FY2014-15 will see 4.8-5.7% and beyond that a return to 6-8% growth- where's the fire?


Calm yourselves. Talking doom and gloom doesn't help anyone.

 

[livingdead]

I dont see any reason to cut the NREGA or other such schemes. I am a big fan of them, they gave respite to poor people, made dalals richers but thats a given in India.
So yeah, if its really needed, we need to reduce defence spending. BTW after getting nuke should not our defence spending be low?

 

[UKBengali]

Based on what pal? India is spending less than 2% of its GDP on defence, as long as its economy keeps growing there will be no such issues- at all. It's common sense.

FY2013-14 will see around 3.5-3.7% growth, FY2014-15 will see 4.8-5.7% and beyond that a return to 6-8% growth- where's the fire?


Calm yourselves. Talking doom and gloom doesn't help anyone.

I thought all these projects were conceived with the India government predicting 8-9% annual average GDP growth for the next 2/3 decades?

 

[Abingdonboy]

I thought all these projects were conceived with the India government predicting 8-9% annual average GDP growth for the next 2/3 decades?

No that would be stupid. They work on 5 year plans. All the current and future projects are perfectly safe.

From a couple of weeks back:

IAF to procure equipment, platforms worth $150 bn - Economic Times

 

[anant_s]

I thought all these projects were conceived with the India government predicting 8-9% annual average GDP growth for the next 2/3 decades?

I dont see any reason to cut the NREGA or other such schemes. I am a big fan of them, they gave respite to poor people, made dalals richers but thats a given in India.

Schemes like MNREGA are fundamentally flawed. You see government wants to ensure atleast 100 days of employement in whatever manner possible and correspondingly some assured wages. so far so good.
But problem begins when you see that people who have skills that may not be suitable for the kind of employement or work available. So all one has to do is to get paperwork done report for the work and get wages. This promotes inefficiency. No to mention this is at a huge cost to national budget.
IMHO the same amount can be spent on education & training (for skill developement) and development of small scale local industry or promotion of agirculture or small scale industries, entreprenurship etc. This way people will slowly become self sufficient and in longer run more employement will be generated without need to invest anymore govt money.

India is spending less than 2% of its GDP on defence, as long as its economy keeps growing there will be no such issues- at all.

yes and one must remember that a major chunk of that 2% of GDP on defence goes into maintenance of exisitng force level (Salaries etc). Actual amount spent on new capital expenditure is even smaller fraction. S0 cutting back on new purchase of hardware logically doesnot make any tangible difference to savings govt is talking about.
Our media never misses a chance to portray the value of a defence deal to create a paranoia is certain sections of society without realizing that the amount is never payed upfront and the whole payment is spread over the years.
Its like saying you need about INR 500,000 for an engineering course when the actual fees has to be payed over four years, a far more managable value.

 

[Sergi]

Schemes like MNREGA are fundamentally flawed. You see government wants to ensure atleast 100 days of employement in whatever manner possible and correspondingly some assured wages. so far so good.
But problem begins when you see that people who have skills that may not be suitable for the kind of employement or work available. So all one has to do is to get paperwork done report for the work and get wages. This promotes inefficiency. No to mention this is at a huge cost to national budget.
IMHO the same amount can be spent on education & training (for skill developement) and development of small scale local industry or promotion of agirculture or small scale industries, entreprenurship etc. This way people will slowly become self sufficient and in longer run more employement will be generated without need to invest anymore govt money.
.

Correct on most of the things. But dont forget the "jobs" like road building , dam buildings , canals building and realted infrastructure building will need unskilled labour. Skilled labour need on such projects is below 5%. Schems like NREGA or now MNEREGA if used infficiently can help us increase connectivity andinfrastructre developments which is also a dire need.

There are many schemes for rural and urban youths for self-emploment and training but all are shawoded by curruption and inefficincy of the staff.

On topic : most likely this statement has the meaning " No funds for NEW defence deals". All defence budget for coming year will be planned to complete existing deals and regular expenditure.

 

[anant_s]

There are many schemes for rural and urban youths for self-emploment and training but all are shawoded by curruption and inefficincy of the staff.

Yes i think that sums it up, whatever the scheme and however good the intent is, unless we have transparency, things will never improve.

 

[dbc]

But as I mentioned above, defense is equally important for India and India can't be seen as not being prepared as it is surrounded by two nuclear-armed countries.

But India isn't prepared will never be prepared - It just isn't in India DNA to prepare. Besides there is a huge amount of money the armed forces can save by eliminating wasteful expenditure. Walk into any Indian military installation and you will see what I mean by waste. In addition I believe the Indian army needs to trim down to at least half - if not 1/4 of its current size. And then there is wasteful procurement due to corruption. The Indian military can do a lot more with a lot less, lacking is the will to do so.

I can't fault the Indian Government for funding the food security bill even if funds are misappropriated and it succeeds only in feeding a fraction of those starving in India.