Budget 2023: This time the defense sector has many expectations from the general budget, Finance Minister can announce this – this time the defense sector has these expectations from the general budget

Demand for increase in defense budget

The Indian Army has been demanding an increase in the Defense Budget for a long time. The reason for this is that India is constantly facing challenges on the eastern and western borders. There has been a tussle on the border with China for a long time. The army has to prepare itself to deal with one year on two fronts. But the lack of budget is constantly coming in the way. On the other hand, Pakistan and China are continuously increasing their defense budget. A provision of Rs 5.2 lakh crore was made for defense in last year’s general budget. Of this, a maximum of Rs 1.9 lakh crore was allocated for the Army, but 83 per cent of it goes towards salaries and daily expenses. Only 17 per cent is left for the modernization of the army.

Army lacks these items

Let us tell you that out of the total defense budget, Rs 1.2 lakh crore goes to the pension of more than 33 lakh ex-servicemen and defense civilians. This does not leave enough money for the modernization of the armed forces. The army currently has a lot of items which are running short. The army continues to lack modern infantry weapons, helicopters, drones, howitzers, night fighting capabilities, anti-tank guided missiles and equipment. Along with this, there is also a shortage of officers of the fighting rank of lieutenant colonel and below. This is because due to the increase in expenditure on salaries and pensions, the army has very little left for its modernization so as to incorporate state-of-the-art technologies.

Budget 2023: You would not know these interesting facts related to the budget, know how it changed in the last years

There has been a continuous increase in the defense budget

The government had kept a budget of more than 5.25 lakh crores for defense during the financial year 2022-23. This is equal to 13.3 percent of the total expenditure of the government. World Bank statistics show that since the year 2000, India’s defense expenditure has been making between 2.5 to 3.1 per cent of our GDP. In 2001, India’s total defense budget was $14.6 billion. By the year 2011, it increased by 339 percent i.e. almost three and a half times to reach $ 49.63 billion. In the years that followed, it grew at a very slow rate. Talking about the year 2020, the government spent $ 72.94 billion on defense, which is equal to 2.9% of GDP. Talking about China here, it has spent about 4 times more than India on its security. The gap between the defense expenditure of China and India has increased rapidly in the last 10-12 years. In the year 2019, China’s military expenditure had increased to $ 240.33 billion, while for India in that year this figure had reached only $ 71.47 billion. During the years 2010 to 2021, China has increased its military expenditure faster than the speed at which India increased its defense expenditure.