Defence Budget: Infrastructure Development sans Corruption strengthens National Security

Sent: Tuesday, 25 August, 2009 8:50:49 PM
Subject: Letter to the Editor - In defence of the PM

Hindustan Times (Chandigarh Edition, August 25, 2009. Page 8). Url: click me
The article "In defence of the PM" by Chetan Bhagat, who is an upcoming author, but, to the best of my knowledge, has no defence connect, is a provocative and rather niave article asking for cutting back on the defence budget in favour of infrastructure development. My comments are appended below for your consideration and reproduction in RMS.
Raj Mehta

Dear Sir,
Chetan Bhagat, in his article "In defence of the PM" ((August 25) throws up the enthusiastic but quixotic proposition that, for a poor country like India, some areas of Government spending, primarily its defence budget, need serious downward review. His take is that "money spent on guns gives no returns, but money spent on infrastructure does". The methodology he offers is that our foreign policy should be tweaked to give some elbow room to Pakistan and thus negotiate a quick settlement of Kashmir. We should also forge an alliance with USA and let them underwrite our security concerns, he niavely suggests. Lastly, he reminds us that there is nothing wrong with old fashioned peace. "It is a good thing" he says, because we cannot afford to "fight or stay prepared to fight for the next 20 years."
Although Indians are notorious for not having a sense of history, it seems only like yesterday when the then PM, Jawahar Lal Nehru, became an enthusiastic advocate of peace in our times. His pacifist Panchsheel policy exemplified by the phrase "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" - resulted in national disgrace. We, the apostles of peace, were caught grossly underprepared militarily and largely remain in the same, abject condition vis-a-vis China till date. It is only the other day that Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the Naval Chief and Chairman COSC warned us that we are decades behind an increasingly resurgent and jingoistic China in terms of the capability to defend our national interests. It is therefore not surprising that the Government has wisely chosen not to castigate the Admiral for the simple reason that he is absolutely spot on. This seems to have escaped Chetan Bhagat's attention. Chetan Bhagat's infrastructure concerns are not out of place, though his identifying the defence budget as the resource provider certainly is. The Government can make the needed money available by spending its allotments under the development head wisely and reducing the collosal corruption which has paralysed Government functioning.
Maj Gen Raj Mehta (Retd)
In Defence of the PM