Many countries have announced defence budget hikes, with Germany ending decades-old freeze. But ambitions will have to be balanced with legacy of underspending, capacity issues.
A Group of Ministers, set up in 2000, after the Kargil conflict, had first recommended setting up “an apex body for the management of maritime affairs”.
Overall defence budget for 2022-23 stands at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, up from Rs 4.78 lakh crore in 2021-22. Defence budget is 13.3% of total expenditure planned by Centre for 2022-23.
Govt procedures that masquerade as safety nets for minimising financial loss can only stifle innovation. Modi govt's well-intentioned iDEX scheme seems headed that way.
Modi govt's capital budget allocation for 2021-22 is lower than the amount armed forces had sought in 2014-15. But spending more is not the answer, spending right is.
Over the last 10 years, the share of the defence budget spent on capital outlay has declined, from a high of 30% in 2011-12 to as low as 22% in 2018-19.
The defence spending is expected to increase to $208 bn in the coming year, China said Friday at the start of the annual National People’s Congress meeting in Beijing.
The 64% allocation under capital acquisition budget amounts to about Rs 70,000 crore and is to be used for purchases from domestic sector. Experts say it will help boost the sector at large.
German mountaineers Stallbohm and Poncar recall their interactions with Col. Narendra ‘Bull’ Kumar and shed light on the maps they gave him which drew his attention to Siachen.
The private lender's shares tumbled to be top Nifty 50 loser after India's central bank barred it from taking on new customers through online and mobile banking channels.
Another addition to military cooperation has been the Strategic Space Dialogue, inaugurated in Paris in 2023. Last month, India participated as an observer to France’s AsterX.
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