Jaitley clears major military reforms proposal
ministry expects all the proposals to be implemented in the next two years,” a senior official said.
Defence secretary G Mohan Kumar has written to the three services headquarters to implement the proposals. The ball park figure of ₹25,000 crore is expected to be saved if the proposals for rebalancing military expenditure are implemented.
The panel wants the military to move out of non-core areas such as the National Cadet Corps, remove duplicity among the three services, and make institutions such as the Defence Research and Development Organization and ordnance factory boards more accountable through project audits and by shelving outdated concepts.
“For instance, an entire Signals unit was tasked to listen to radio broadcasts from the 1962 war. This unit will be disbanded with the troopers redeployed into other tasks. The recommendations are not aimed at cutting jobs but making the military lean and thin,” the official said.
The Narendra Modi government is expected to clear soon the creation of a CDS post and the strategic partner policy, which will boost the “Make in India” campaign in the defence sector.
A major recommendation is that the defence budget should be 2.5% to 3% of the GDP. The committee called for redefining the revenue and capital heads in the budget.
In broad terms, revenue means money required to maintain the military, while capital is spent on acquisition and modernisation. The army, with 1.3 million personnel, could get the major chunk of the budget — above navy that has around 55,000 men and women, and the air force, which employs around 150,000.