Defence ministry's 12th five year plans contines to wait for clearance by MoF

In April 2012, the DAC at a meeting chaired by Defence Minister AK Antony, gave its nod for the 15-year Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) that will end in 2027 and the five-year plan that will end in 2017, a defence ministry official said.

"The DAC considered the perspective plans of the defence forces in a meeting and gave in principle approval to two important planning documents of the armed forces – The LTIPP 2012-27 and Five-Year Defence Plan 2012-17," the official said.

According to officials in the ministry, the five-year plans – which are projections for resources allocation for the modernisation for the period – are usually approved a year ahead of the plan period. But in this case the approval in 2012 came a day after the plan period had begun.

Explaining the procedure of clearance to FE, officials said, "Country's defence planning falls under the purview of the National Security Council-headed by Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) are there too. The defence plans, be it the five-year plan or the long-term plan, have to go through the finance ministry to get clearance before it goes to the CCS for its nod."

"These plans need the Finance ministry approval as then only can they chalk

... contd.