On January 9, 2017, BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav posted a video on
social media accusing the organization of poor food quality during the deployment on the
borderline in Jammu. Since then there were a lot of controversies
over the situation of the soldiers in the Indian Army with the criticism of the
government regarding this video.
Although BSF is a paramilitary
force, the controversy sparked a new debate on the issues of Indian soldiers. On the other hand, the CAG
report on India's defense preparedness was presented in Parliament on July 21
last year.
Indian Army 2020
In this report, serious concern
was expressed on the Indian Army and defense preparedness.
It is interesting that when the
soldiers of India and China were face to face on the Doklam border in Bhutan,
then the CAG raised serious questions about the capability of the Indian Army.
On behalf of the CAG, concerns
were raised over the reliability of the aging fighter aircraft and the Indian missile system, with flaws in the maintenance of the IL-76 transport aircraft. According to the report of the
Wall Street General, the Indian Army has demanded a fleet of 42 planes and about
750 aircraft to face China and Pakistan. But the Indian Army is operating from
an old jet like the MiG-21.
The MiG-21 was first used in
the 1960s. The Indian Army may soon get rid of the MiG-21, but according to a
report, by 2032 only a fleet of 22 planes will be available.
How many powerful weapons does the Indian Army have?
India has old military planes
which are often sufferers of accidents. According to data released in February
last year, there have been 39 planes crashes in the four years preceding that.
Last year, two MiG-21s crashed
in September.
According to the CAG report, 80
missile systems were received from Bharat Electronics Limited, out of which 30
percent of Akash missile systems failed in basic testing.
The report said that the
missile failed to reach the target and its speed was also low. Two missiles
were lying there due to booster nozzle.
On this CAG report of March
2017, the Indian Air Force said that the process of replacing outdated missiles is
continuing.
The CAG had also underlined
that the Government of India had announced the deployment of the Akash missile
on the India-China border in 2016, but it was not successful in installing it
in one place.
According to this report, the
failure of these missiles is more than international standards.
'Indian Army ready to fight on more than two fronts'
Pakistan says China is a good friend for Pakistan, and if India opens war against Pakistan, India should also be ready to fight on two fronts against China & Pakistan.
The CAG report for Prime
Minister Modi's Make in India scheme towards making India self-reliant in
defense sector and reducing arms imports was nothing short of a shock.
Despite this, India's Army
Chief Bipin Rawat has said many times that the Indian Army is fully prepared to
fight on two and a half fronts simultaneously.
The Army chief's statement was
mocked within the country on what basis he was talking about getting ready for
war on more than fronts.
The CAG even said that the
Indian Army has only ammunition to fight for 10 days. Perhaps China must have
also studied the CAG report. During the Doklam standoff,
China kept saying that the Indian Army should retreat or else serious
consequences would be suffered.
Professor Sabita Pandey of South
Asian Study Center at JNU says that it is not so easy for any country to fight
a war on two fronts. She said, "It is difficult
for a powerful nation to fight a war on two fronts simultaneously."
On the one hand, there is a
debate on the Indian Army chief's statement and on the other hand, the amount
allocated in the defense budget is being debated, how will India be able to
compete with China and Pakistan together with this budget?
In the last financial year,
12.22 percent of the total budget was allocated to the defense sector, which
was the lowest part of the total budget in the last two decades.
In 1988, the defense sector was
allocated 3.18% of GDP, but since then there has been a steady decline.
In the last budget, 1.6 percent
of India's total GDP was allocated to spend on defense, whereas globally this standard is two to 2.25 percent.
Compared to India, China
allocated 2.1 percent of its GDP to spend on defense, while Pakistan has 2.36
percent.
Where is the Indian Army against China?
Lakshman Kumar Behera of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis has said in several of his interviews that the allocation amount for modernization of the Army has come down by 0.9 percent. At the same time, this reduction in Navy and Air Force is 12% and 6.4%.
This is seen when the Indian army is grappling with the acute problem of shortage of fighter aircraft,
rifles, weapons, bullet-proof jackets, howitzers, missiles, helicopters and
warships.
The Diplomat report says,
"China is far ahead of India in terms of military power. India does not
stand up to China's military capability. China has one million more troops than
India. Five times more submarines and Tanks. "
"Combat planes are more
than double that of India and warships are almost double. China has more than
three times as many nuclear weapons as India. While China's defense budget is $
152 billion, India's is only $ 51 billion. "
It is also being said about
this time budget that the government is not in a position to spend more on the
defense budget because the situation of the Indian economy is not well.
According to a report by
Bloomberg, more than 80 percent of the amount that India allocates on the defense budget is spent on the salaries and other allowances of the defense
personnel.
In such a situation, there is
very little fund left for modernization. Despite this, the Army did not use
6,886 crore amount of defense budget last year.
India tops in importing weapons
Out of the 99 recommendations
of this committee, the government has directed to implement 65.
This committee has recommended
reducing the number of forces in the Army and cutting down on expenses. At
present, there is about 14 lakh strength in the Indian Army.
Modi government has now reduced
FDI in the defense sector to 100%.
According to a Wall Street
General report, India's defense industry received only $ 5 million FDI in the
last 14 years, while telecommunications and automobile industry received $
10-10 billion in the same period.
India is still one of the
world's leading arms importer countries.
Lakshman Kumar Behera, author
of the Indian Defense Industry n Agenda for Making in India, wrote in his book
that India still imports 60 percent of its weapons of need.
World Arms Import
According to the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report, India's share in the world
arms imports were 15% between 2010 and 2014.
With this, India was number one
in terms of arms import.
On the other hand, China has
emerged as the world's third-largest arms exporter, leaving behind France,
Germany and Britain.
In 2005, India had set a target
of making 70 percent of the weapons of its need in the country, which has still
reached 35 to 40 percent.
According to a report by The
Stockholm International Peace Research, worldwide military expenditure is
increasing by 1.2% every year.
According to this report, The United States alone leads the world with a 43% share in military expenditure.
This is followed by four
permanent members of the UN Security Council. However, the rest of the members
do not go around America either.
China is at number two with
seven percent. After this, Britain, France, and Russia are around four percent.
According to this report,
China's military strength is around 23 lakhs. However, despite such a large
number, China's spending on the military does not stand anywhere in front of
the US.
It is not so difficult to
understand this big difference in military expenditure of the USA and China.
Like the US, China does not
engage its troops in many international missions or military interventions.
Also, like America, it does not
have hundreds of military bases around the world. China has limited itself to
national and regional military operations so far.
Many analysts say that India is
still entangled in the traditional border dispute with Kashmir and China, but
China has spread its foot from the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea to the Arctic.
When the Modi government shall present the budget on February 1, it will not be able to ignore these
challenges.
Jai Hind
