The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has made serious observations on the limited budgetary allocations made by the Ministry of Defence for the armed forces, which do not even meet the requirements. The Ministry of Defence projected a requirement of ₹1,72,203.30 crore, including ₹1,10,043.78 crore for committed liabilities and ₹31,434.88 crore for new schemes. However, only ₹93,982.13 crore was allocated by the Ministry of Finance. The reduced allocation might push back payments to vendors for committed liabilities, which in turn might lead to litigation and an additional interest burden, the report said. In its response, the the Ministry of Defence said: “This Ministry is bound by the budgetary ceilings conveyed by the Ministry of Finance.

Source: The Hindu January 08, 2019 17:15 UTC