Introduction:
The Standing Committee on Defence presented the Twenty-eighth Report on Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Defence for the year 2022-23 on ‘Capital Outlay on Defence Services, Procurement Policy, Defence Planning . The policy for procurement of Defence equipment for the Armed Forces aims to ensure timely procurement of military equipment, systems and platforms as required by the Armed Forces in terms of performance capabilities and quality standards, through optimum utilisation of allocated budgetary resources. The policy also seeks to ensure that the highest degree of probity, public accountability, transparency, fair competition and level-playing field are achieved in the process of procurement.
DPP:
- The Defence Procurement Procedure mainly contains processes that needs to be followed to streamline and simplify defence procurement procedures and ultimately achieve the objective of self reliance in meeting all the security needs of the Indian Armed Forces by promoting indigenous design, development and manufacture of Defence weapon systems and, platforms in a time-bound manner without any delays.
About:
- The Ministry of Defence frames policies on defence and security-related matters, and ensures its implementation by the defence services (i.e. Army, Navy and Air Force).
- In addition, it is responsible for production establishments such as defence public sector undertakings, research and development organisations, and ancillary services that assist the defence services, such as the Armed Forces Medical Services.
India continues to be among top global military spenders
- According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the third largest defence spender in absolute terms in 2020 after USA and China.
- While China spends a lower proportion of its GDP on defence than India, its larger economy implies that it spends about 3.5 times as much as India.
- Pakistan’s defence budget is about a seventh of India’s, though it is a larger proportion of its GDP.
- However, India’s defence spending as a proportion of its total government expenditure has been decreasing.
- In the last decade (2012-13 to 2022-23), the budget of the Ministry of Defence has grown at an annual average rate of 8.6%, while total government expenditure has grown at 10.8%.
- During this period, defence expenditure as a proportion of central government expenditure decreased from 16.4% in 2012-13, to 13.3% in 2022-23.
- Defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP declined from 2.3% in 2012-13 to 2% in 2022-23.
- The Standing Committee on Defence (2018) had recommended that the Ministry of Defence should be allocated a fixed budget of about 3% of GDP to ensure adequate preparedness of the armed forces.
