The country?s defence Budget for 2009-10 remained unchanged at Rs 141,703 crore, which was allocated in the interim Budget earlier this year?a hike of 34% over the previous year. While presenting the Budget in the 15th Lok Sabha, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a word of cheer for soldiers and junior commissioned officers (JCOs), saying their pensions would be enhanced.
The government has accepted the recommendations of the high-level committee, headed by Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, set up in April to look into the demands of defence pensioners, and has decided to substantially improve the pension of pre-January 1, 2006 defence pensioners below officer rank and bring pre-October 10, 1997 pensioners on par with post-October 10, 1997 pensioners, the minister said. The government had also decided to liberalise certain pension benefits being extended to war-wounded and other disabled pensioners.
While a few defence analysts termed the defence allocation as ?very insipid? and the minimal hike ?deceptive?, some industry players found it to be a Budget with great ?potential?.
?India?s new defence Budget is a strong reflection of the government?s committment to modernise India?s armed forces with the most advanced and capable military platforms needed to meet India?s strategic defence needs. Boeing Integrated Defence Systems looks forward to working closely with the ministry of defence and the service branches as this transformation continues to help ensure its success,? opined Vivek Lall, country leader, Boeing, IDS.
Earlier this year, while presenting the interim Budget on February 16, Mukherjee had justified the 34% hike by saying a security ?threshold has been crossed? with the Mumbai terror attacks. Of the allocation for the fiscal that began on April 1, plan expenditure for defence has been pegged at Rs 86,879 crore, against Rs 73,600 crore for the last fiscal. This includes Rs 54,824 crore for capital expenditure, compared to Rs 41,000 crore in the revised estimates for 2008-09.
However, in real terms, the budgetary hike works out to little over 23%, as the revised expenditure for 2008-09 has been estimated at Rs 1,14,600 crore against the allocation of Rs 91,681 crore.
As in past years, the 1.1-million strong Indian Army has received the lion?s share of 41% or Rs 58,648 crore, with the Navy being allocated Rs 8,322 crore and the Air Force Rs 14,318 crore. The Army?s allocation is even larger than Rs 54, 824 crore, the amount set aside for capital expenditure for all the three services. However, in the case of capital expenditure, almost Rs 20,000 crore has been set aside for the Air Force, compared to Rs 17,767.95 crore for the Army and Rs 11,873.73 crore for the Navy.
?What remains to be seen is how much of this will actually be spent by the time the fiscal ends on March 31, 2010, as the armed forces returned Rs 7,000 crore of the Rs 48,007 crore allocated for capital expenditure for 2008-09,? observed experts.
Together, the three services will see Rs 43, 811 crore or nearly 54% towards pay and allowances. The Budget has also allocated Rs 21,790 crore for pensions, Rs 4,757 for the Defence Research and Development Organisation and Rs 832 crore for defence ordinance factories.