NEW DELHI – The Indian Army’s hopes for modernisation, according to ViceChief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Sarath Chand, has suffered a setback.

Lt Gen Sarath Chand has told the Parliamentary Panel on Defence that thebudget is insufficient and that may bring an end to several ‘Make in India’projects.

“Allocation of Rs 21,388 crore foe modernisation is insufficient even tocater for committed payments of Rs 29.033 crore for 125 ongoing schemes,emergency procurement and other requirements,” the Army’s Vice Chiefdeposed. “The Budget 2018-19 has dashed our hopes and most of what has beenachieved has actually received a little setback.”

Lt Gen Chand also raised several other budget-related concerns like theprospect of Future Ready Combat Vehicles and upgradation of existingequipment. “We have no choice but to leave out some priority acquisitioncases. 63% of Army budget goes in to paying salaries, 14% formodernization. We need 20-25% of Army Budget for modernization,” he said,adding that while 68 per cent of Army’s equipment is vintage, only eightper cent is state-of-the-art.

In the most-recent defence budget, a sum of Rs 2.95 lakh crore – a hike of7.81 per cent since last year’s budget – has been outlayed which isapproximately 1.58 per cent of the country’s GDP. This, however, is thelowest share in terms of percentage vis-a-vis India’s GDP since 1962.Subsequent war against China that year had then led to a hike in the 1963Union Budget.

Interestingly, Lt Gen Chand sounded the alarm bells on the same day thatArmy Chief Bipin Rawat acknowledged Chinese military might. “Chinese havefinally arrived. I can say that. They did not forget that military powershould rise simultaneously with economy,” he said while lauding China’sefforts to boost military expenditure.