Strengthening the country's national security and procurement of state-of-the-art defense equipment under the fast-track process for its armed forces are high on India's defense budget agenda this year, in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, with the government hiking its defense budget outlay by nearly 24 percent.

After Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the 2009-2010 fiscal interim budget Monday, a senior Indian Defense Ministry official said this year's increase in the defense budget is one of the highest hikes in recent years and it is meant to beef up India 's military readiness in challenging times.

"It has been done due to the prevailing security environment which deteriorated considerably in the country. And, it will enable the Indian armed forces to procure state-of-the-art defense equipment under the fast-track process to fill in the gaps exposed in the November 26 terror strikes on India's financial capital," he told the media, speaking on condition of anonymity.

India this year allocated 1,417.03 billion rupees (29 billion U. S. dollars) for its defense sector, including research and development. Last year's allocation for defense stood at 1,146 billion rupees, according to a revised version for last year's defense budget.

The money earmarked for capital expenditure, or to buy weapons systems, has increased by one-third to 548.24 billion rupees, or nearly 39 percent of the entire defense budget, for the fiscal year which ends March 2010.

"We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism. In this context, I propose to increase the allocation for Defense, which is part of non-plan expenditure, to 1,41,703 crore (1417.03 billion) rupees. This will include 54,824 crore (548.24 billion) rupees for capital expenditure," Mukherjee told the country's Parliament while presenting the interim budget last Monday, adding the government is ready to provide any additional money for the internal security.

For the Indian Army, the hike works out to be about 120 billion rupees over last fiscal year's 362 billion rupees to attain 481.95 billion rupees.

But, according to the official sources at the Defense Ministry, a closer look reveals that 40 percent of this increase will not buy desperately-needed weapon systems but merely fund the salary increase for the country's military.

Following the Sixth Pay Commission Report, salaries are expected to consume over 461 billion rupees, which is a third of the Defense Budget. The 1.2 million strong Indian Army alone accounts for 80 percent of this salary bill.

Also, the continuing inability to fully utilize the Defense Budget for the ninth year in a row makes the 548 billion rupees set aside for buying new weapons look less impressive this time, said analysts.

Over 70 billion rupees from the capital outlay for Defense for 2008-09 have been surrendered because they were not used as was planned to buy weapons. It means that budgetary allocations do not fully translate into military capability, said analysts.

For the Indian Navy, the hike is 2.88 billion rupees to attain 80.34 billion rupees, while for the Indian Air Force, the hike works out to be 11.09 billion rupees to attain 121.99 billion rupees. The bulk of it will be used on importing fighter jets, artillery guns, helicopters and missiles.

Following the Mumbai terror attacks, India is also planning to constitute a coastal command under the Home Ministry and build a commando armed with satellite-guided communication equipment.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)