Defence Budget and its discontents

Allocations made for capital expenditure must increase if India is to keep pace with China's rising military might

India’s tumultuous and volatile strategic environment showed no signs of abating in intensity. New Delhi continues to face a two-front challenge from both of its primary foes, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Pakistan, notwithstanding the latter’s recent conciliatory overtures, which are only a smokescreen to tide over its dire economic vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, the PRC presents an immediate challenge in the form of its occupation of Indian claimed territory in Eastern Ladakh and a substantially more dynamic challenge with its military mobilisation and infrastructure upgrade along the entire stretch of the contested Sino-Indian boundary of almost 4,000