‘Allocate common budget for armed forces': Defence expert

CHANDIGARH: Gyan Setu think-tank, in collaboration with defence studies department of Panjab University (PU) on Friday held a lecture on "Analysis of Defence Budget 2023" at P L Anand Auditorium.

Amit Cowshish, the resource person and retired additional secretary, Indian Defence Accounts Service, said the budget estimate (BE) is prepared by defence services, which is then sent to the defence ministry and then to the finance ministry for inclusion in the Union budget.

The BE includes various expenditures to be undertaken by the defence ministry and the Armed Forces, including pensions, services, technology, research and various other works. Cowshish explained three frameworks for analysing any budget -- statistical, operational and economic. He claimed the common method of comparing the defence budget allocation with the GDP of a nation wasn't a very efficient method of understanding its efficiency.

He noted that the budget for border roads has been significantly increased, while there was a slight decline in the budget allocated for salaries of the armed forces, which had never happened before. He said the revised estimate (RE) had always been different from the BE because the Army, Navy and Air Force could not use the entire budget allocated to them. He suggested that instead of allocating separate money to the three armed forces, there should be a common bank so that expenses could be shared based on necessity.

He also noted how there was no public document on the army's expectations with the budget due to security reasons, so a holistic analysis of the success of the budget couldn't be done.

Lt Gen K J Singh (retd) of Gyan Setu, who convened the lecture, claimed the defence ministry needed some more planning in order to frame a good budget.

Lt Gen K J Singh (retd), who convened the lecture, claimed the defence ministry needed some more planning in order to frame a good budget.While he praised the government for having a "great sense of agility while responding to the demands of the defence", he said it was distressing that India still didn't have the technology to make high horse power engines for helicopters and tanks. He suggested the government have a mission-mode approach to deal with various issues the sector was dealing with.