By Milind Kulshreshtha,
Indian Union Budget 2021-22: In the Union Budget, the government’s concentrate to revive financial development post pandemic year has been incredibly evident, but particulars on the policy on Defence as well was anticipated in the Budget highlights statement by the Finance Minister. The Defence Capital expenditure amounts to a significant component of the Government’s total capital spending budget and it is mainly meant to boost the infrastructure and modernize the Armed Forces. The contemporary technologies like fighter jets, helicopters, Missile systems, Gun mounts and so on. are essential to be upgraded constantly by Armed Forces so as to keep a tactical edge more than the adversaries. The allocation beneath Capital Expenditure has been set for Rs 1,35,060.72 crore for this Financial Year, but the Defence Capital outlay raise by 18.75 per cent more than final year requirements to be looked at from the viewpoint that such significant systems take a lot of years for Ordering and the deliveries largely happen in stages. With military crisis observed at the Sino-Indian border, a number of emergency purchases have been initiated final year. These gear are in the pipeline for delivery and are most likely to consume up component of this Budget enhancement. The preferred military technologies is tailor produced by the foreign OEM for niche applications and the gear pricing for these do not comply with the exact same curve as observed for Commercial-of-the Shelf (COTS) products.
The Revenue expenditures are utilized to help India’s big Land, Air and Sea locations of interest, necessitating big expenditure to keep these assets on a higher alert 24/7 and be war-fighting prepared. The non-Salary Revenue to meet operational requirement has been elevated to Rs 54,624.67 crore, on the other hand, this six per cent development shall be consumed to keep an enhanced and extended ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) in the course of the heightened military activities of today. IAF and Navy’s function extends a lot beyond the land borders and the big location essential to be covered tends to make it important to fly more sorties and more ships to be deployed at sea. This as well puts a strain on the upkeep of these assets to meet the operational specifications. Indian Army calls for to keep a higher volume of troops in the northern hostile regions for a longer duration now than any time ahead of and this deployment might be essential all through the year. Only when the technologies on the body of the soldier gets enhanced, the Army might think about to progressively regulate the Revenue expenditure. But induction of contemporary technologies for Network Centric Operations has been slower for Army when compared to other two sister services. The IAF and Navy’s uniformed manpower gets restricted mostly due to the human carrying limitations of the war fighting platforms like aircrafts and warships deployed.
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Strategic Sectors
In the Policy document, the Defence along with Atomic Energy and Space types the Strategic Sectors for the Government. The policy outlines that in the strategic sectors, it is planned to have bare minimum presence of the public sector enterprises and the remaining CPSEs shall be privatised or merged or subsidiarized with other CPSEs or closed. Even the intent of the Government might be aligned towards far better work efficiency and private participation, this type of vision shall need a lot of years for an efficient implementation considering that each and every activity handled by these sectors is essential, and the private substitutions shall take some more time. The document also mentions that the Customs duty on raw components and inputs applied by aviation sector elements or components (like engines) for manufacturing by Public Sector Units of the Ministry of Defence (like HAL) shall see the reduction of duty from 2.5% to zero.
The Budget proposes one hundred new Sainik Schools in partnership with State Governments, NGOs and Private participation. Sainik schools do provide the Defence with mentally prepared manpower but is not the only route for manpower induction.
Indigenization in Defence
The indigenization in Defence even with buzzwords like Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India in Defence has not shown the leap forward essential to help the Defence Forces. The Negative list was in any case merely the list which was on the anvil for indigenization by Defence Forces for the final decade or so. Overall, this highlights the lack of vibrant Defence gear manufacturing inside India. Surely, the Defence Procurement procedures (which are of course tilted towards Defence), encourages induction of nicely established and mature gear for obtain right after their due Tests and Trials.
Even although the Capital allocation for DRDO has been elevated to Rs 11,375.50 crore, indigenization efforts for big projects (like Tejas, Rustom UAVs, Arjun Tanks) by way of DRDO Labs have normally been adversely impacted by many Transfer-of-Technology (ToT) shortcomings. Lack of acknowledgement of restricted indigenization capabilities (be it Private agencies, DRDO, or OFBs) for Defence has impacted the Armed Forces’ preparedness. Dovetailing Defence modernisation with these Organisations might only leave the Defence forces wanting.
Overall, the Budget did not bring in the concentrate towards bringing new Technology to replace the manpower for defensive and other ISR activities. The lack of Netcentric Warfare technologies as essential to be implemented for the Theatre Level Commands might leave the modernization of the Armed Forces at a snails’ pace. Defence can’t be tied down by progress of the nearby sector to create the military gear and such an alternative can be detrimental on the Armed Forces’ edge to successfully manage swiftly modernizing adversaries like China.
(The author is a C4I specialist & Strategic Analyst. Views expressed are private and do not reflect the official position or policy of TheSpuzz Online.)