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A fund  crunch always hits hard but when it comes to the second largest army in the world that

is in the midst of one its biggest-ever expansions and placed in a hostile neighbourhood, things

can take a serious turn. The Indian Army is stretched too thin-wartime reserves are at a low, andin tune with a general reduction in spending by the government due to low revenue generation,

its meagre modernisation budget too has been substantially cut this year.

However, the situation is not entirely new-year after year, especially during !A II, the land

force was perceived to be getting a raw deal at the expense of a thrust to the air force. Things,however, are at a precarious edge now with the army progressively adding "",### new troops to

its ranks to build a mountain strike corps to boost its defence on the $hina border, without a

commensurate increase in budgetary allocation.

The fear is that the army may be in a tough spot-beefed up in numbers but poorly e%uipped asmodernisation plans have remained fro&en. At the very core is the manner in which new

 battalions and units have been raised over the past few years. In order to meet timelines, all

raisings of the new mountain strike corps have been done by cannibalising existing units, takingapart ammunition, arms and supporting infrastructure such as vehicles and bulletproof 'ackets

that are reserved for use in times of war. !ut in technical terms, the army has over the past four

years dipped into its war wastage reserve ())*+ to support new battalions along the $hina

 border.

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)hile this practice in itself is not new-traditionally new raisings have been carried out in a

similar manner-the problem is that the army has not been getting replenishments and its budget

allocation has remained almost static, barely matching up to inflation rates. The addition of"",### troops is technically coming without a proportional increase in arms, infrastructure or

ammunition holdings.

rustrated by repeatedly making its case for much-needed funds  for the new raisings with the previous government, the army H has now made a new roadmap and a call for attention with

the new dispensation ( see box+. The grouse is simple. The !A notionally allotted *s ,### crore

for setting up new corps. However, this allotment was ad'usted from within the existing budgetof the army. Army H has now re%uested a one-time, special infusion of  funds  (*s ,### crore+

to make up for deficiencies, which the  /arendra 0odi-led government is considering. A list of

seven priority areas for modernisation has also been drawn up by the army. These priorities

include procurement of new artillery guns (not a single new gun has been purchased in almostthree decades+, induction of light choppers for the aviation corps, upgradation of tanks and

armoured carriers with night vision device and procurement of a new assault rifle for soldiers.

1)e have put our views across for a special allocation and it seems that it will be accepted,1 a top2t-3en involved in the modernisation process told India Today.

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4enior defence analyst 5rigadier (retd+ 3urmeet 6anwal says that depletion of war reserves will

undoubtedly hit preparedness. 1Ideally, ammunition for new raisings should be bought fresh but

since that has not happened, reserves that are earmarked for war have been depleted. This is bound to dent the overall combat capability of the force due to the stretching involved in new

raisings,1 he says.

)hile there has been little debate on the expansion of

the world7s second largest standing army at a timewhen all ma'or powers, including $hina a nd the 4,

are downsi&ing, army H feels that the new mountain

strike corps is central to its defences on the 8astern border.

In a session with members of the parliamentary

standing committee on defence in 4eptember last year, 9ice $hief of Army 4taff, 2t-3en !hilip

$ampose, was forthcoming on the need for augmenting force levels. 1:ur analysis of the threat

 perception after ; years predicted that the way it ($hina+ has been getting more aggressive inresolving its disputes with neighbours, especially, in view of what we have seen with its

maritime disputes in the 4outh $hina 4ea, it was our attempt to make sure that we are fully prepared to deal with this threat if at any time ($hina+ decides to raise the ante and get more

aggressive,1 2t-3en $ampose said. In the same session, however, the 9ice $hief admitted that to

meet the 1fast time frame1, the army used up some of its reserves.

This additional 1burden1 on the resources of the army comes as a big blow as far as financial planning is concerned, given that its revenue to capital budget ratio is seriously lopsided. rom

its annual allocation of  funds , the Army barely got << per cent this year for capital expenditure

-to buy new arms and e%uipment for its soldiers. 8ven this allocation of *s <#,=## crore this year 

has now been further cut down by *s >,## crore (over <# per cent+ as the government strugglesto meet its expenses.

8ven within the ?" per cent block of money that goes into the revenue head, pays and allowances

of the officers and staff eat up a ma'or part of it, leaving spending on ammunition the only placewhere a cut is possible in case the allocation is not sufficient. 10ore than @# per cent of the

revenue allocation of the army is consumed in pay and allowances. The amount left is inade%uate

for meeting the re%uirement under other budget heads such as the expenditure on clothing, rationand fuel. $onse%uently, the burden of inade%uate allocation gets passed on to the areas where

 paucity of  funds  would not trigger any immediate crisis-procurement of ammunition being one

such area,1 Amit $owshish, former financial adviser (ac%uisition+, 0inistry of efence,

mentioned in a paper for the Institute for efence 4tudies and Analyses.

A lopsided budget means that the army has little left to invest  in new technology. To correct

this, the army has suggested that the government consider shoring up the nation7s spending on

defence from the current all-time low of ;.? per cent of the 3!. In a presentation to Indianlawmakers, the army has pro'ected a gradual increase in defence spending to B per cent. This will

not only cater to the ma'or modernisation deficiencies in the system but will also be on a par with

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the spending done by most other ma'or nations. 1To fight a war on two fronts, an allocation of at

least <. per cent is needed,1 says 6anwal.

The government7s test on delivering for the army will come very soon as it makes allocations fordefence spending in the next financial  year. The army remains positive that at least the start of a

course correction will be visible in this year7s budget.

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