Manohar Parrikar strikes an ‘austere’ note

Known not to condone avoidable expenses, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday struck to his “no wasteful expenditure” stance during the two-day Annual Unified Commanders’ Conference (UCC) of Tri-Services Commanders in the national capital .

Mr Parrikar asked the Army, Navy and the Air Force to develop synergies and “to optimise resources and enhance cost effectiveness, so that maximum funds can be made available for modernisation of the Armed Forces,” a defence ministry release stated.

Interestingly, a recent closed-door meeting of the Niti Aayog, chaired by its vice-chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya and attended by India’s top economists, is understood to have deliberated on the government’s defence spending.

The meeting, sources familiar with the development told this newspaper, underlined the need to rapidly modernise Indian military and is one of the first moves to integrate India’s defence and internal security plans with the overall 15-year vision document being prepared by the think-tank.

The implication is also that the ongoing Long Term Integrated Defence Plan (LTIDP) 2012-27 has to be reworked to be weaved into the vision document being framed by Niti Aayog.

Though modernisation of the military has been the buzzword in recent times, the effort pales in comparison to the huge expenditures of China on its armed forces.

This year’s budget set aside 1.65 per cent of India’s gross domestic product for defence, discounting expenses like pensions.

India has the world’s third largest defence forces and was ranked sixth in global military spending in 2015.

In another significant statement, the Defence minister, in tune with India’s “Act East Policy”, sought more exercises with friendly countries, especially in South East Asia, as India is posed for a predominant role by virtue of her “dominant, geographical location”.

India recently took part in Exercise Malabar – along with the United States and Japan – in the Philippine Seas, an area of considerable tension in the backdrop of China’s territorial claim over a large part of the waters.

The UCC of Tri-Services Commanders is a key meet that deliberates on the vital strategic, tactical, logistical, and administrative aspects relating to the Tri-Services.

Besides the chiefs of the three wings of the Armed Forces, the ongoing meet is being attended by minister of state for defence Rao Inderjit Singh, deputy national security advisor Arvind Gupta, top bureaucrats and officials of the Ministry of Defence. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired the meet on board INS Vikramaditya, off the Kochi coast.