Manoj Joshi
27 April 2015
Speaking at the Annual Unified Commanders' Conference for Tri-Services Commanders in New Delhi on Thursday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the Government was committed to modernise the armed forces, but "that there is a need to exercise financial prudence and optimise all available resources".
Parrikar does not realise that the principal blame for the fiscal irresponsibility of our armed forces rests on the political leadership of the country.
His statement comes in the wake of a somewhat modest increase of 11 per cent in the 2015-2016 Union Budget.
It comes, too, following two decisions whose implications are yet to be digested. The first was the surprise decision to bypass the longrunning plan to buy and licence manufacture 126 Rafale aircraft at about Rs 1,00,000 crore, and, instead, go for a government-to-government deal to get 36 aircraft off the shelf.
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