The issue of responsibility-whose responsibility is the security of Parliament and the induction of new technology?
The head of Parliament security is the Joint Secretary, Security — a post that is vacant at present. The posts of the two chiefs of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force involved with Sansad security are vacant too.
The inquiry into the breach has been entrusted with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief whose force is involved in the security set-up of Parliament- (Real authorities in this regard are missing-Keep this in mind.)
It is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that Parliament turns to for all its security needs.
The targeting of the MP who recommended the issuance of passes to the intruders may be unfair.
The youngsters involved in the incident on December 13 caused no harm, but they inflicted the gravest damage by revealing the gaps in Parliament security to all and sundry.
This should be an opportunity to make sweeping changes in the security set-up using out-of-the-box thinking.
The Indian Air Force's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft program, known as the 'mother of all procurements', had a budget of approximately $10 billion in 2007. Despite the requirement for 126 aircraft, only 36 Rafale jets were obtained.
Many IAF chiefs have spoken of the depleting squadron strength in the IAF which is now an abysmal 32.
With India in election mode and sops being showered on the electorate (even more certain before the general election in 2024), the allocation for defense in Budget 2024-25, which starts getting planned now, could take a hit.
Need for judicious assessment-The threat on the northern borders is a live one. And it would be unprofessional to dismiss our western neighbors.
The indigenous drive, R&D-the armed forces should be technologically modern at any given time. However, developing a local defense industry takes decades, necessitating a smart balance to be maintained between imports and indigenous accretions to ensure the required potency.
India’s defense Budget, in real terms, has been more or less stagnant.
In the sphere of research and development, the picture is not rosy either. The Global Innovation Index 2022 pegs India’s research and development expenditure at just 0.7% of its GDP which places it 53rd globally. China, incidentally, spent $421 billion in 2022, which is 2.54% of its GDP.
NOTE: Supply side restraints/limitations due to various factors like raw material production and procurement, climatic variations, logistics etc. affect Inflation in India more as compared to Demand Push factors.
