New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) India Saturday hiked its defence allocation by a modest 7.74 percent to Rs.246,727 crore ($40 billion), with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley declaring that “defence of every inch of our land is above everything else”.
Presenting the budget proposals for 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley said the government was following a policy of transparency and quick decision-making in procurement to keep the defence forces prepared for any eventuality.
He said the government was pushing for Make in India policy in defence manufacturing to reduce dependence on imports.
The allocation is a mere Rs.17,727 crore over the Rs.229,000 crore Jaitley had provided in his maiden budget last July.
As usual, the 13-lakh-strong Indian Army has received Rs.1,04,158 crore -- a hike of Rs.5,846 from the revised estimate of Rs.98,310 crore in 2014-15.
At Rs.23,000 crore, the Indian Air Force allocation is Rs.2,815 crore higher than that of the previous fiscal, while the Indian Navy, at Rs.15,525 crore, has seen a small rise of Rs.1,590 crore.
As for the War Memorial and War Museum, for which Jaitley, then also the defence minister, had allocated Rs.100 crore in his previous budget, a separate implementation document circulated along with the budget paper, said the draft cabinet note for this was “under preparation”.
There has also been little progress in implementing the one-rank-one-pay scheme, for which an additional Rs.1,000 crore had been allocated in the last budget, with the implementation report saying: “The modalities are under consideration.”
Similar is the case with the Technology Development Fund that was meant to provide resources to public and private sector companies, including SMEs, as well as academic and scientific institutes to support R&D of defence systems that enhance the country's cutting-edge technology.
“Consultations with stakeholders have been completed and draft cabinet note is being prepared,” the implementation note said.
Activists gearing up for more Protests on land bill
New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) Having vociferously protested against the land ordinance for two days
Subvariant of Omicron in India: Subvariant of Omicron in the country BF-7 and BM-5, 1, 7 have als
During the TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, who was in the race for British PM, the a
Controversy has come to the fore once again in Karnataka regarding the hijab. Students sit on dha
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country's growth will be driven by fiscal
Infinix Hot 10 Play's first sale today, 64 GB storage phone available for only Rs.
Smartphone company Infinix recently launched its new smartphone Infinix Hot 10 Play in India. Tod
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India will hold a special meeting on t
President, PM greet nation on Ram Navami
New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee and
Lok Sabha Election: Why do voters choose Modi government? BJP explained with this 2.13-minute VIDEO
Lok Sabha Election 2024. Bharatiya Janata Party has entered the electoral fray to win 400 seats i
It has been more than two months since the Russia-Ukraine war. However, Russia has so far been ca
