JULY 13, 2015
Ensuring security from external aggression is a basic public good that the governments have to provide and given that it is not possible to reveal individual preferences, this has to be financed from taxes. The important issue confronted by the policymakers, however, is the basic economic dilemma of scarcity and choice. The funds allocated for defence are not available for spending on physical infrastructure or human development which are necessary to improve the living conditions of people.
As stated by David Greenwood[1], “What the budgeting system should ideally do is to ensure that the ‘right’ amount is spent on defence in the light of pattern of national priorities, and the ‘right’ military capabilities developed in the light of the structure of security priorities” The answers to what the “right” amount is depends on the economic choices the government has to exercise in providing various public goods, merit goods and services, given the overall resource envelope.
As the world’s largest democracy, with an annual gross domestic product (GDP) of almost $2 trillion it is imperative to understand what the ‘right’ amount is and to evaluate whether what we are currently spending is high, low, or indeed the ‘right’ amount. While understanding the numbers are important, it is also important to explore the following
various priorities in which defence spending can happen
assessing existing resources
investigating the possibility of developing normative frameworks to understand security priorities & threat perception
how the defence forces can be effective and yet be fiscally prudent
The national security of a country depends on defence installations and facilities being in the right place, at the right time, with the right qualities and capacities. Spending on defence, therefore, is a resource allocation problem and the budgeting for defence has two broad functions[2]
Management Function — to enable concerned personnel to spend money for various activities in an efficient and economical manner.
Planning Function — Budgetary resources are to be allocated such that it enables achievements regarding operational preparedness and defence capability-building.
Defence budgeting literature indicates that budget is a three-tiered exercise in choice. First, it involves choosing how much to spend on defence, given the resource constrtaint, keeping in view other competing demands. Second, it involves choosing the basis for allocating resources among the services (army, navy and airforce). Third, it involves allocation among various programmes for capability-building, which entails what capabilities to acquire & maintain and the degree of military preparedness to aspire for[3]. Therefore, development of defence economics is necessary from the perspectives of
democratic accountability
efficiency of resource allocation to ensure preparedness
military effectiveness to ensure the right mix of services are deployed to ensure peace
improvement of service conditions — that ensures state of the art quality of life of servicemen, ex-servicemen and their families.
Varun Ramachandra is a policy analyst at Takshashila Institution and tweets @_quale
[1] David Greenwood, “Budgeting for Defence”, RUSI, 1972, p8.
[2] AK Ghosh, “ Defence budgeting and planning in India”, p.25
[3] Ibid 27
PS- My thanks to Nitin Pai and Dr. M. Govinda Rao for their inputs and help.
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