new Delhi. India lags far behind countries like China and the US in spending on defense research and development amid fears of a growing threat. A parliamentary panel said this in its report on Wednesday.
The report of the Standing Committee on Demands for Grants for DRDO tabled in Parliament on Wednesday expressed concern that there has been no increase in the percentage of defense research and development expenditure to the overall GDP during the previous years.
“Actually, the percentage was 0.088 per cent in 2016-17, which has come down to 0.083 per cent in 2020-21,” the report said.
The panel analyzed the expenditure on R&D along with the total defense expenditure of India and other developed countries.
The report said, “An analysis of the expenditure of total defense expenditure on R&D found it to be very low as compared to other developed countries such as China, which is 20 per cent and the United States of America as compared to its own defense budget for research. and spending 12 percent on development.
The Committee is of the view that in view of the current international scenario, where there is an increasing perception of threat due to ongoing conflicts around the world, it is necessary to put national security interest at the fore.
Therefore, the panel recommended that adequate funds should be provided for defense research, so that strategic projects can be taken up in full force.
The panel expressed displeasure over the budgetary allocation of DRDO. There is a shortfall of Rs 1659.80 crore in the budgetary allocation to DRDO in the fiscal year 2022-2023, the Parliament panel in its report emphasized that this should compromise the organization’s operational needs and research and development activities.
It has been said in the report that in the last few years, the budget of DRDO has been around 5-6 percent of the defense budget.
However, it is not rising and is in line with the cost of inflation and keeping in view the fact that a large amount is spent for strategic plans and CCS projects and programmes, salaries and allowances and other non-salary revenue expenditure , each of which essentially keeps on increasing every year.
DRDO had estimated an amount of Rs 23460.44 crore in the financial year 2021-22, while the final allocation was Rs 18,227.44 crore, which is Rs 5122.56 crore less than the initial estimate.
This allocation is less than the budget estimate allocation for the year 2021-22.
DRDO has sought Rs 22,990 crore in the budget estimate for 2022-23, while the allocation made is Rs 21,330.20 crore. Thus there is a shortfall of Rs 1659.80 crore in allocation.
The panel said the reduction in budget allocation to DRDO should not compromise the organization’s operational needs and R&D activities.
The panel recommended that DRDO should seek additional funding on the Revised Estimates, so that its research and development activities proceed as per the stipulated time frame.
—AnyTV News
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