The Hindu : National : No plan to curtail defence spending: Pranab

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Friday, Feb 25, 2005

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No plan to curtail defence spending: Pranab

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB.24. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government today indicated that it had no intention to slash the outlay for the defence sector in the Budget. Conveying this, the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, told the leaders of the Left parties that the Government disagreed with their suggestion to trim the expenditure on defence, as this is not possible in the present circumstances.

At the meeting of the Left-UPA Coordination Committee, Mr. Mukherjee is understood to have said that higher outlay for the defence sector is required not only to purchase more equipment but also provide better amenities and enhanced pension to retired soldiers. At the same time, Mr. Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of House in Lok Sabha, assured the Left parties that defence expenditure, as a proportion of the Gross Domestic Product would not be allowed to go up.

The Government argued that though it had increased the defence budget by Rs. 12,000 crores in June, the enhanced outlay was to honour the contracts signed by the previous Government. While most of the money on the capital account in the current fiscal year went into making payments for previous contracts, the outlay for the coming fiscal too may not see the UPA Government signing too many new contracts, as payments will continue in tranches for many years. The hike on the capital account is unlikely to be substantial, Mr. Mukherjee is said to have argued. However, some additional allocation is required to pay for better medical and other facilities for retired servicemen.

The Congress has been arguing that the defence preparedness of the country was compromised for a long time especially in the five years after the Kargil conflict that saw the then Government surrendering unutilised funds worth over Rs. 28,000 crores. The Congress also points out that defence is not the only sector that requires enhanced preparedness. It would also be allocating adequate funds for health, employment and other social sector schemes.

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