New Delhi: The New York Times on Monday painted a bleak picture of India, noting that its armed forces are in alarming shape with the government estimates of having only 10 days of ammunition if intense warfare breaks out tomorrow.
And, 68% of the army’s equipment is so old, it is officially considered “vintage,” the paper says quoting frustration among the American officials wanting to make India a key ally in the coming years to hedge against China’s growing regional ambitions. It says the Indian forces are vastly underfunded and the country’s navy, army and air force tend to compete rather than work together.
“Our troops lack modern equipment, but they have to conduct 21st century military operations, said Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. The American military began prioritising its alliance with India as its close relationship with Pakistan soured over the last two decades. US officials are concerned that Pakistan is not doing enough to fight terrorism, a charge the country denies.
In just a decade, United States arms sales to India have gone from nearly zero to $15 billion. But Pakistan can still draw on a powerful American-supplied arsenal. The daily says, India’s military funding remains the biggest challenge. It notes that it is not just a question of how much India spends on its military, but how it spends it.
The majority of the money goes to salaries for its 1.2 million active duty troops, as well as pensions. Only $14 billion will be used to buy new hardware. In 2018, India announced a military budget of some $45 billion. By comparison, China’s military budget that year was $175 billion. Last month, Delhi announced another $45 billion budget.
“At a time when modern armies are investing hugely on upgrading their intelligence and technical capabilities, we need to be doing the same,” said Gogoi. Unlike China, where an authoritarian government is free to set military policy as it wishes, India is a democracy, with all the messiness that can entail.
India is trying to reduce the number of military personnel. The NYT says cutting troop levels so that the military can spend the money on buying modern equipment is not so simple. It points out that India’s military has long been a source of jobs for a country struggling with chronic underemployment. That is likely to be a big issue in elections scheduled in another two months.
