Union Budget 2021: 'Modernisation of forces won't be easy with this budget'

By Anish Kumar | First Published Feb 1, 2021, 8:27 PM IST

The defence and security experts expected a huge jump in defence budget in an effort to counter Chinese and Pakistan threat. But that was not to be.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented Union Budget for 2020-21 and allocated an outlay of Rs 4.78 lakh crore for the defence sector.

The defence and security experts expected a huge jump in the defence budget in an effort to counter Chinese and Pakistan threat. But that was not to be.

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Talking to Asianet Newsable, former Indian Army officer Major General Yash Mor (Retd), who served in south Kashmir and Punjab in counter-terrorist operations, said: "This year's budget is a bit disappointing that there is a minor increase of just 1.5 per cent over last year’s allocation."

Major General Mor was of the view that the defence budget would be increased keeping prolonged border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.

"We thought that this year we have a huge standoff with China on the Ladakh border. It has been more than 8 months that we have an aggressive China in eastern Ladakh. Even at the height of the winters, the forces are face to face with each other and come summer we do not know how things will pan out," he said.

"Towards other adversaries Pakistan... the Line of Control refuses to cool down, hardly there any peace and tranquillity. The process of infiltration of terrorists continues in Kashmir, unabated,” the former Army officer said.

He also said there is high time for modernisation of the armed forces.

"All three forces required a huge amount of capital allocation for new weapons and modernisation and with this kind of budget, modernisation of three services is not going to be easy," he added.

He asked for the removal of pension of defence civilians from the defence fund.

As per the SIPRI, China has spent $261.1 billion on the defence budget, while India has spent around $71.1 billion during 2014-19.

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