India’s fight against China challenge must start with Budget 2021

by Abbas Adil

In the backdrop of an economic contraction following the Covid pandemic, the Narendra Modi government will present the budget for 2021-22 next week. But all eyes will be on the money that the government will allocate to the defence ministry.

This is primarily because unlike most countries of the world, who are largely battling a slowing economy due to the Covid 19, India is facing another big challenge — China.
And so, there is a greater expectation among the armed forces, which have been reeling under acute financial crunch, for increased allocation to meet their modernisation plans.

The armed forces are up against China, a country with the second-largest defence budget in the world. In 2020, China’s official defence budget stood at $179 billion, three times that of India’s.

While India’s defence budget for 2020-21, including pensions, constituted 15.5 per cent of the entire expenditure plan of the central government, China’s official defence allocation was 36.2 per cent of the country’s budget.

I use the term ‘official’ because since the late 1990s, many analysts have believed that major components of Chinese military activities are not reflected in the defence budget released by the government.

In its latest report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Swedish think tank, pegged China’s actual defence budget in 2019 at $240 billion as compared to the official figure of $175 billion.

Let us understand one thing – India can never match China’s defence spending and it will be foolhardy to even think it should.

India, choose your battles wisely

The China challenge has made it important for India to decide what war it wants to fight. Does it want to pump in billions of dollars in acquiring new generations of existing systems or does it want to invest in technology of the future? Does India think the next war will be fought in the Himalayas or should it deem a naval war – in the waters – to be a wiser battle?

What is happening now is that China has forced India to deploy thousands of troops and equipment in the mountainous northern borders. India has and is in the process of buying numerous equipment under emergency clause to prepare against the Chinese military, which showed aggression on land.

Many in the defence establishment argue that the best outcome of the Ladakh stand-off would be a stalemate, which means neither India nor China gets to claim victory. But one must also ask whether China is looking at a war or is it simply trying to keep India engaged in the northern borders?

Sources in the defence ministry admit that one sphere where India has an advantage over China is the sea. But does it mean that the conflict should be shifted from our Himalayan boundaries to the waters of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean?

Not really, but China is smart to limit the conflict to the mountains. Sources in the Modi government argue that they will ensure that money is the least worry for the armed forces, which will be provided with everything they want.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.