How can India Survive on a Low Defence Budget in COVID times?

ByCdr (Dr) Jayakrishnan N Nair

May 14, 2020

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The defence budget of India has seen a hike of 6 per cent, from Rs 3.18 lakh crore from the year 2019 to Rs 3.37 lakh crore in 2020. Armed forces are less enthusiastic as always since the major chunk of this budget outlay caters to the revenue expenses rather than capital acquisitions. In addition, the Government of India (GOI) has stalled many important acquisitions in view of the ongoing pandemic which would affect the battle readiness of the Force. The Ministry of Finance always targets defence budget whenever an economic crisis arises. Armed forces are now busy redoing their defence preparedness aligning with the new budget outlay. The article tries to explore a few unconventional steps whereby the nation can cope up with a depleted defence budget during the ongoing pandemic.

image courtesy: Source: https://www.financialexpress.com

By Cdr (Dr) Jayakrishnan N Nair

Commander (Dr) Jayakrishnan N Nair (Retd), is an Aerospace Engineer by profession. He has served in the Indian Navy for 25 years. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, a DRDO TDF Expert, Life Member of the Aeronautical Society of India, All India Management Association, Computer Society of India and Indian Society of Training and Development. Apart from an MTech (Aero) and MBA, he has been honoured with a Doctorate in Advanced Studies (Aerospace/Science) by the University of Azteca, Mexico. An Associate Member at MP-IDSA, New Delhi and Senior Fellow (Defence and Military Analysis) at the Centre for Public Policy Research.