Secy contradicts mantri on defence allocation

Defence panel slams govt on Rafale deal delay

Two months after defence minister Manohar Parrikar expressed satisfaction on the Rs 2,49,099 crore allocation made for defence in the Union Budget 2016, defence secretary G. Mohan Kumar has contradicted his minister, saying the amount was not “sufficient” for the modernisation effort being undertaken for the armed forces.

The report of the standing committee on defence, which submitted its report to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, said: “During deliberations, the defence secretary admitted before the committee that the amount allocated is not as per requirement of the services. The committee expressed agreement with the ministry that this growth in the budgetary allocation is not sufficient and is woefully inadequate for the projects and modernisation of the services.”

The parliamentary panel pointed out that it is evident that defence expenditure as percentage of Central government expenditure has “nosedived” from 15.24 per cent in 2000-2001 to 12.59 per cent in 2016-17. It noted that the impression given is that the government is not paying attention to providing sufficient allocations to the defence ministry, which is “highly alarming and needs to be rectified”.

Just after the Budget, Mr Parrikar had said the allocation would take care of all proposed capital expenditure.

The committee also observed that the reduced budgetary allocation may result in “many compromises” that are likely to be made in the current year as well as which will affect the operational preparedness of the forces.

Making a case for additional budget as per the demand/projection of the forces, the panel said such a “meagre increase in the budget will not in any way, fulfil basic requirements of the forces, let alone the modernisation aspect”.

The report also chided the government for delay in finalising the deal to buy Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation, a French aviation major.

Asking the government to ensure that the Indian Air Force (IAF) achieves its critical strength of 42 squadrons, the report said: “The committee are unhappy to note that although a considerable time has elapsed, negotiations with France on Rafale could not be taken to a logical end.”

The government contends that the deal has not been inked as Dassault Aviation did not agree to certain tender clauses. The new aircraft is required to partially replace an ageing fleet on the verge of being phased out.

At present, the Indian Air Force — the fourth largest in the world — has 33 fighter aircraft squadrons.