The Opposition on Friday accused the government of reducing the allocation for the defence ministry to the lowest level since the 1962 war with China and claimed that 'achhe din' (good days) have not come for soldiers.
Leading the Opposition charge in the Lok Sabha during a debate on the Demand for Grants of the Defence Ministry, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said security challenges from China and Pakistan had increased and the lack of modernisation of the defence forces is a "ticking time bomb".
He said the defence allocation had been increased to 2.5 percent of GDP during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government but it has now been reduced to 1.5 percent, which is the "lowest" since 1962. The allocation for capital expenditure was only Rs 86000 crore and 90 percent of it will go to service the existing contractual liability, Scindia said.
"Our army is not getting new weapons. The budget for them is not adequate and still all of it is not being spent. Rs 7,000 crore of the capital expenditure has been returned and Rs 13,000 crore was returned in the preceding year...," he said.
While Pakistan had been "caged" by the UPA government, it is now launching counter attacks on us, he said.
He added that China had sided with Pakistan during the BRICS Summit held in India last year. This government has neither a proper defence policy nor has it right intentions, the Congress leader said.
Scindia said the UPA government had signed a deal to procure 126 Rafale aircraft which would have increased the air force's squadron of fighter aircraft to 40 from 33. However, the NDA government has reduced the procurement size to only 2 squardons, he added.
Claiming inadequacy of weapons and equipment for all three wings of defence forces, he said against the need of 3.5 lakh bullet proof jackets, only 50,000 has been procured.
Countering the opposition charge, BJP member Meenakshi Lekhi took a dig at the Congress, saying in the earlier governments there was "scam and ban" and then "a lot of noise" as far as defence contracts were concerned.
The present government has stopped such things and it would be better not to remind the Congress about AgustaWestland issues, she added, in an apparent reference to the scam in the purchase of VVIP helicopters.
She favoured audit of the land owned by the defence forces to ensure there is no exploitation and defence economic zones.
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