The government that has been patting its back on modernisation of armed forces has been contradicted when parliamentary panel flagged concerns about modernisation taking a hit because of inadequate funds made available for buying new weapons and systems in the new budget.

Statute panel outlined that capital budget for 2020-21 was 35 per cent less than projected requirment by armed forces. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence report points out that insufficient budgetary allocation will affect the acquisition of the latest weaponry, aircraft, ships and tanks to match modernisation of Chinese and Pakistani militaries.

The government set aside Rs 3.37 lakh crore for military spending in its budget for 2020-21, an increase of barely 6% over last year’s budget estimates of Rs 3.18 lakh crore. The budget includes Rs 1.13 lakh crore under the capital head for modernisation, which is only Rs 10,340 crore more than the allocation in last year’s budget estimates. If the defence spending allocated for 2020-21 is calculated against last year’s revised estimates of Rs 3.31 lakh crore, the increase is not even 2 per cent.

Armed forces are prioritising their purchases to make the best use of available resources. The panel highlights how the gap between requirement and money made available has increased over the years. The gap for the army had spiralled from Rs 4,596 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 17,911.22 crore this year.

In the case ofNavy, the difference was Rs 1,264.89 crore in 2014-15, which has increased to Rs 18,580 crore in 2020-21 and for airforce, the gap which was Rs 12,505.21 crore in 2015-16 has increased to Rs 22,925.38 crore in 2020-21.