India Tops in Illiteracy and Defense Spending

[RiazHaq]

I have just published on my blog, Haq's Musings, a guest post by Colonel Pavan Nair, a retired Indian Army officer, a detailed analysis of the Indian defense spending in the context of the nation's growing needs for social spending on food, education and health care. Col Nair prefaces his analysis by lamenting that "defense economics has not been a subject for serious study or debate in Indian academic or military circles. Little or no literature is available with the exception of a few books in the area of defense accounts. Economists and activists have long argued that defense related expenditure needs to be curtailed. Opinion is clearly divided between the developmental lobby and strategic thinkers who wield influence with the political leadership."

Nair then goes on to accept the challenge of defense economics in India by laying out his case with lots of data and sources, and concludes with the following:

"Besides external defense, internal security and human-development form a vital part of the overall security and well-being of the nation. Is the rupee being spent wisely? The answer is in the negative both in terms of quantum and efficacy. DE has risen to unsustainable levels in the last decade primarily on account of dependence on imports and nuclearization. There is a trade-off between defense and developmental spending specifically in the area of health which becomes visible in poor human-development parameters like infant mortality rates and child malnutrition. Bangladesh is well ahead of India in these parameters. Internal security has been neglected for too long. There is a need to balance overall expenditure to meet the challenge of the emerging economic and strategic scenario. Force levels need to be reviewed. Like obsolete equipment, obsolete organizations should be dispensed with. The army has become equipment and staff oriented. It also remains manpower-intensive with too few junior officers and a large tail. The Thirteenth Finance Commission could look into aspects of internal and external security to come to a reasonable limit for both. It would also be expedient if the Commission specifies what constitutes defense spending and whether Defense Services Civil Estimates should form part of defense expenditure. DE must be capped at current levels."

I agree with Col Nair's conclusion, and would like to see similar detailed analysis of Pakistan's defense expenditures. Though the problems of poverty and hunger in Pakistan are a bit less serious than in India, Pakistan suffers from high illiteracy and low levels of human development that pose a serious threat to its future.

India has the dubious distinction of being among the top ten on two very different lists: It ranks at the top of nations with 270 million illiterate adults, the largest in the world, as detailed by a just release UNESCO report on education; India also shows up at number four in military spending, behind United States, China and Russia.

Not only is India the lowest among BRIC nations in terms of human development, India is also the only country among the top ten military spenders which, at 134 on a list of 182 nations, ranks near the bottom of the UNDP's human development rankings. Pakistan, at 141, ranks even lower than India.

India also fares badly on the 2009 World Hunger Index, ranking at 65 along with several sub-Saharan nations. Pakistan ranks at 58 on the same index.

It is time for major South Asian nations to deal with the urgent need for careful balancing of their genuine defense requirements against the need to spend to solve the very serious problems of food, education, health care and human resource development for securing the future of their peoples.

Haq's Musings: India Tops in Illiteracy and Defense Spending

Haq's Musings: India's Arms Buildup: Guns Versus Bread

 

[Iggy]

I dont understand India is spending only 3% of the budget in defence which is less than many of the other countries still people like to tell that we are just spending all our budget on defence only..

 

[gogbot]

I dont understand India is spending only 3% of the budget in defence which is less than many of the other countries still people like to tell that we are just spending all our budget on defence only..

100% - 3% = 97%

they seem to think India has only 3% to spend.

And totally forget about the remaining 97%

somehow they belive the 3% we spend of defense counteracts the 97% we spend on everything else.

Let alone the fact that we spend 30% on government subsidies,which makes things cheaper and more economical for the public. Which is the real waste as that money can be spent on more important things like education and infrastructure.

Which we will MMS and UPA are incrementally removing the subsides freeing up the Budget and allowing more money to be spent o various other growth fields.

So over the next 10 years nearly 25% of the budget will be slowly made available to all the other expenditure of the GoI.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

So India bashing is no bread and butter for you.

Please dont post HAQ's absurdities in the Indian Defense Section. Thanks!!!

Both of you stop trolling.

You can refute his posts (or the guest he had) or choose to ignore it, but these kinds of nonsensical responses are why threads get hijacked.

 

[RPK]

The article is talking about illiterate. basically resposiblity falls under state government. so education not directly related with central government. But it also involed.


Lets start with education in india

2001 government statistics hold the national literacy to be around 64.84%. Government statistics of 2001 also hold that the rate of increase of literacy is more in rural areas than in urban areas. Female literacy was at a national average of 53.63% whereas the male literacy was 75.26%. Within the Indian states, Kerala has shown the highest literacy rates of 90.02% whereas Bihar averaged lower than 50% literacy, the lowest in India. The 2001 statistics also indicated that the total number of 'absolute non literates' in the country was 304 million

So womens lack education to improve that GoI implemented Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy recentaly to bring down female illiteracy by half of its present level.

also recent development in Indian education

PM pushes Right to Education

Faced with criticism for the delay in implementing the much-hyped Right to Education Act Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday held an emergency meeting with the Human Resource Development Minister to expedite the process.



The meeting, which also included representatives of the Planning Commission, understood to have deliberated on the funding pattern and the share of the expenditure to be borne by the states. As per the HRD Ministry’s estimate Rs 1.71 lakh crore would be needed in the next five years for implementation of the Act.

A State Education Ministers’ meeting is likely to be convened towards the end of this month to share the funding format with them and take their approval.

Though Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal refused to disclose on the deliberations he said, “we are on the right track and we are making fast moves to expedite the implementation.”

The Ministry has already framed the model rules for the Act which should be followed by the states.

Fund format

Sources told Deccan Herald that three formats have been presented before the Planning Commission for dividing the financial burden between the Centre and the states.

While one proposal is to continue with the present format of 55:45 as is practiced in the case of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Since the HRD Ministry’s flagship education programme would be incorporated with the implementation of Right to Education Act, one argument is to continue the present practice.

However, sharing the finances between the Centre and the states on 75:25 or 65:35 ratio has also been argued.

The states would also be asked to set up State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, which has been specified as the monitoring agency for the Act providing free and compulsory education for children aged between 6-14 years.

According to a set of statistics released by National University of Educational Planning and Administration on Friday the number of primary schools and quality of infrastructure has improved due to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

From 8,53,601 schools in 2002-03 their number has increased to 11,96,663 schools in 2006-07 and further to 12,50,775 schools in 2007-08.

“It is heartening to note that more than 90 per cent of the new schools have school buildings and about 88 per cent of the institutions that impart elementary education now have drinking water facility,” the NUEPA statistics showed.

Of the total Muslim enrolment in primary classes, the percentage of Muslim girls is 48.93 which is quite similar to the share of girls in overall primary enrolment (48.38 per cent).


so illiterate can not be changed in overnignt. But India is progressing!

 

[grey boy 2]

Should spending be tied to GDP?
Chris Hellman argues that GDP is not an appropriate way to measure necessary US military budget allocation:

Linking military spending to the GDP is an argument frequently made by supporters of higher military budgets. Comparing military spending (or any other spending for that matter) to the GDP tells you how large a burden such spending puts on the US economy, but it tells you nothing about the burden a $440 billion military budget puts on U.S. taxpayers. Our economy may be able to bear higher military spending, but the question today is whether current military spending levels are necessary and whether these funds are going towards the proper priorities. Further, such comparisons are only made when the economy is healthy. It is unlikely that those arguing that military spending should be a certain portion of GDP would continue to make this case if the economy suddenly weakened, thus requiring dramatic cuts in the military.
World Military Spending ? Global Issues

 

[Skeptic]

I would express serious disagreement with Colonol Puri and his assertions. First of all, the spending in defence and develipment are certainly not co-related. We will need to address this once the leakage in system for development spending are plugged.

Currently the major portion (famously expressed by Rajiv Gandhi as 85 paisa out of a rupee) is not reaching the target. In current time, we still have not been able to eliminate this. Right now, even if we reduce the defence spending and pumping the same into develpment, the corrosponding increase in development expenditure would be 15% of the reduction. This is basically a lose lose situation.

Anyways, even a layman knows that security and safety is of paramount importance and with a fast growing economy as India, inspiration should be taken from China in the way they spent the expenditure in Defence as well as development.

Some major bureaucratic reforms are the order of the day.

 

[xuxu1457]

100% - 3% = 97%

they seem to think India has only 3% to spend.

And totally forget about the remaining 97%

somehow they belive the 3% we spend of defense counteracts the 97% we spend on everything else.
Let alone the fact that we spend 30% on government subsidies,which makes things cheaper and more economical for the public. Which is the real waste as that money can be spent on more important things like education and infrastructure.

Which we will MMS and UPA are incrementally removing the subsides freeing up the Budget and allowing more money to be spent o various other growth fields.

So over the next 10 years nearly 25% of the budget will be slowly made available to all the other expenditure of the GoI.

3% ???the 3% of GDP ?
2009 Military spending & GDP top

 Country   Military spending      GDP(billion$)     Percentage  
1、USA       612.0 billion $              14330           4.27%

2、France    78.8 billion $                2978           2.6%

3、China     70.2 billion $                4910           1.43%

4、Russia    66.7billion $                 1757           3.8%

5、Janpan    58.0billion $                 4844           1.12%

6、The UK    53.0billion $                 2787           1.9%

7、Germany   39.5billion $                 3818           1.03%

8、India     29.0billion $                 1237           2.34%

9、Korea     20.857billion$                953.5          2.19%

 

[Iggy]

3% ???the 3% of GDP ?
2009 Military spending & GDP top

 Country   Military spending      GDP(billion$)     Percentage  
1、USA       612.0 billion $              14330           4.27%

2、France    78.8 billion $                2978           2.6%

3、China     70.2 billion $                4910           1.43%

4、Russia    66.7billion $                 1757           3.8%

5、Janpan    58.0billion $                 4844           1.12%

6、The UK    53.0billion $                 2787           1.9%

7、Germany   39.5billion $                 3818           1.03%

8、India     29.0billion $                 1237           2.34%

9、Korea     20.857billion$                953.5          2.19%

Whats your point mate?? 2.34 % is less than 3 % actually

 

[xuxu1457]

I dont understand India is which is less than many of the other countries still people like to tell that we are just spending all our budget on defence only..

spending only 3% of the budget in defence????
Is India's fiscal revenue and GDP roughly equal?
2.4% of GDP=?3%budget ???? How this happened?If this is true, very interesting

 

[Red Dwarf]

spending only 3% of the budget in defence????
Is India's fiscal revenue and GDP roughly equal?
2.4% of GDP=?3%budget ???? How this happened?If this is true, very interesting

There is no reason to be amazed. When Pakistan is one side and China on the other side, maintaining a 3% is very admirable.

 

[Ruag]

spending only 3% of the budget in defence????
Is India's fiscal revenue and GDP roughly equal?
2.4% of GDP=?3%budget ???? How this happened?If this is true, very interesting

Here -

http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2008-09/eb/stat02.pdf

Out of Rs.750,883.53 crore spent by the Government of India in 2008-09, Rs.105,600 crore were spent on defence services.

This might look a very high percentage of India's total budget but the total expenditure figure only includes that of that of the Union government, and does not include those of India's 28 state governments.

 

[xuxu1457]

There is no reason to be amazed. When Pakistan is one side and China on the other side, maintaining a 3% is very admirable.

No，No，I mean:the budget is less than the GDP,
Jeneral the budget/GDP=20%,then
2.4% GDP=12%budget,
Then the Indian Military budget is 2.4% of GDP,it shouldn't be 3% of budget,that almost all the counteies product belong to the gov

 

[RiazHaq]

3% ???the 3% of GDP ?
2009 Military spending & GDP top

 Country   Military spending      GDP(billion$)     Percentage  
1、USA       612.0 billion $              14330           4.27%

2、France    78.8 billion $                2978           2.6%

3、China     70.2 billion $                4910           1.43%

4、Russia    66.7billion $                 1757           3.8%

5、Janpan    58.0billion $                 4844           1.12%

6、The UK    53.0billion $                 2787           1.9%

7、Germany   39.5billion $                 3818           1.03%

8、India     29.0billion $                 1237           2.34%

9、Korea     20.857billion$                953.5          2.19%

Indian defense budget's specified limit of 3% of GDP has been observed only by excluding several items like the cost of the MoD and the expenditure on military pensions which by itself amounts to 15% of the total defense outlay. Several other items like the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI, a regular regiment of the army consisting of thirteen battalions) and the Coast Guard are also excluded. A substantial part of the cost of the nuclear arsenal and allied systems is excluded. All para-military forces including the ones directly involved in border management are excluded. The Parliamentary Committee on Defense spends most of its time on personnel matters and resolving issues of protocol between the service chiefs and the defense secretary. The Committee looks at DE but beyond stating that DE should be pegged at 3% of GDP, it has nothing substantial to contribute. Clearly, parliamentary oversight and control seems to be missing. For several years, DE in aggregate has crossed 3% of GDP.

Haq's Musings: India's Arms Buildup: Guns Versus Bread

 

[mrwarrior006]

isnt india ahead of many countries in illiteracy


i know its still very low and it will for 10yrs but are we really top in tat section
hope some one will get wat i mean