According to the Pakistani Army, the defence budget for 2022–2023 has dropped from 2.8 per cent of GDP to 2.2 per cent. Pakistan’s GDP is $347.743 billion, compared to India’s $2.95 trillion for 2021. India spends far more on defence than Pakistan does when measured in trillions of dollars of GDP.
Unlike India, Pakistan does not advertise its defence expenditures on a website. In its requests for aid, Pakistan makes one passing mention of them. The lawmakers don’t care about the specifics. Parliamentarians are unable to examine the budget in detail. The majority of lawmakers lack the analytical skills necessary to work through complicated math. As a result, they do not want to concern themselves with the work that skilled specialists in various ministries and legislative committees are doing.
Pakistan’s defence expenditures hardly meet basic needs. Whenever requested, the parliament was presented with the specifics of the defence budget for the current and next fiscal years. The price of Zarb-e-Azb was also frequently mentioned in the media.
Pakistan should segregate the cost of defending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and important buildings like the Parliament from regular requests for defence aid.
History has taught us the painful lesson that only those nations that we’re able to reconcile the needs of welfare and security managed to survive. The warrior or garrison states vanished without a trace.
Also Read: The Noose of the Grey List Persists
India hides its military spending. Consider pensions for veterans. They may be treated together under “civil ministry” laws or individually. Defence expenditure does not include many quasi-military elements. The border and key highways, and public sector initiatives listed under the Defence Ministry separately, are examples of such measures. The MoD’s provisions include capital expenditures. They are not categorised as part of the three services’ combined military spending. The cost of developing nuclear weapons is not considered a military expense.
In northern Madagascar, India improved its current listening post. In addition to the Australian naval post in Cocos, India now has access to the US naval port in Diego Garcia as well as the French naval bases in Mayotte and Reunion islands. According to Robert Kaplan’s Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, the Indian Ocean will be crucial to 21st-century geopolitics. Together, the 28 nations inside its watershed account for 35% of the world’s population and 19% of its GDP. From the Gulf states to China, Japan, and other Asian nations, 60% of the world’s oil imports flow through these waterways, which are home to 23 of the busiest ports on earth.
With China on the rise and its goal of surpassing the US in GDP by 2027, India has emerged as the US’s ally. India does not support China’s Belt and Road Initiative. In addition, it works to counteract Chinese influence in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal through commerce, assistance, and border proximity.
In 2005, Washington said that it wanted to assist India in becoming a significant global force in the twenty-first century. Later, this determination led to changes in domestic legislation that made it easier to sell sensitive military technology to India. To start shipments to India’s civilian nuclear reactor, the Nuclear Supplier Group also loosened its restrictions (enabling India to divert resources to military use).
Also Read: THE UNADDRESSED STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS OF PAKISTAN
Raj Mohan, Shyam Saran, and others point out that India’s foreign policy is based on the mandala (concentric, asymptotic, and intersecting circles) philosophy developed by Kautilya. It resembles Henry Kissinger’s concept of “spheres of influence.” This ideology holds that “all neighbours are real or prospective foes.” However, short-term policy should be founded on shared, mercurial interests that are volatile, dynamic, and intersectional of two groups.
On the Doklam Plateau, close to the Nathula Pass on the border with Sikkim, there was a 73-day stalemate between India and China last year. Because of its disadvantage compared to India, China was forced to negotiate a solution to the standoff. To neutralise the Indian advantage there as well as in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China eventually developed high-altitude “electromagnetic catapult” rockets for its artillery forces. The 055-class missile destroyer that China is currently building will be equipped with a magnetically driven high-velocity rail gun.
By 2027, the Indian navy hopes to have a fleet of 200 ships. The Navy plans to buy six new conventional submarines to replace the outdated fleet of Chetak helicopters. In addition to the 36 Rafales bought in 2015, the IAF intends to purchase 114 more fighters.
People dumped the lifeless remains of their family members into waterways during the COVID-19 surge. They lacked the funds to purchase pricey wood for proper cremation.
Nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion inhabitants live without access to a toilet. According to the most recent census data, more people own a cell phone. Of the 246.6 million houses, only 46.9% have toilets, and 49.8% urinate in public.
According to the report, only 38% of families have access to water. In addition to being unpredictable, the tapped water source is typically filthy. Water is only provided for a few hours, at most four. 118 million homes, or around 62% of all families, lack access to clean drinking water at home. Five million households still collect drinking water from neighbouring ponds, tanks, rivers, and springs in rural locations.
Families’ access to electricity varies from 44 per cent in rural regions to 88 per cent in metropolitan areas. Kerosene is still used to light almost half of the rural homes. Twelve per cent of Indian homes, or almost 22 million people, still cook outside. Separate kitchens, on the other hand, are present in 76 per cent of urban families. Whether used in a kitchen or not, firewood remains the most common fuel, with approximately 52.5 per cent of Indians using it.
Even 23% of urban families cook with firewood. Crop residue is used as fuel in 10% of rural homes. In addition, 9.8% of people use cow-dung cake as fuel.
Approximately 23% of urban families have phones, compared to 4% of rural families. Practically speaking, the rural populace abhors automobiles. Only 6% of urban families own a car.
The majority of Indians endure subhuman living conditions in the Sahara. There are pockets of prosperity that go unrecognised and untaxed. For instance, there are 11% unoccupied homes among Delhi’s 3.3 million homes. In Gujarat, 14% of homes are unoccupied.
Even in Indian cities, one-third of families do not have a toilet, a bathroom, or a kitchen. 260 million people live below the poverty line. 60 million children under the age of four are moderately or severely malnourished. 87 per cent of women and 60 per cent of children are anaemic. 25 million live without shelter. 171 million do not have access to safe drinking water. 290 million adults are illiterate. There are 4.4 doctors per 10,000 people, according to the Planning Commission.
Given the countless millions of people living in poverty in India, the enormous growth in the military budget is unsustainable. Pakistan is forced to increase defence spending as a result of an increase in Indian military spending.
