India's defence expenditure v social spending debate-09Oct07
Mike Mcclure, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reports from the Indian Air Force's air base in Hindon near Delhi on the debate over increased expenditure on defence hardware amid the poverty in which hundreds of millions of its people live.
For the country's million-man armed forces, there's lots to celebrate these days.
An ageing fleet of Soviet-era equipment -- though it can still thrill the crowds -- is set to be replaced. A $40bn upgrade to the Indian arsenal, equipping it with firepower to match its emerging economic prowess.
New jet fighters, artillery, submarines and tanks -- the Indian military believes they are essential but critics say this massive military expenditure is indefensible in a country where two-thirds of the people still live in poverty.
In the flight path of these war machines, less than a kilometre from the Hindon base, people are still waiting for proper sanitation, wishing their children could get a decent public education, wondering even how they'll survive past next week.
"Our young people need better schools and jobs," says Srichand, a retiree. "old folks like me need a pension and some help buying food so we can get by."
Until now, India's defence spending has been about $25bn a year or about 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic product, much less than its Asian rivals, China and Pakistan.
Still, there's fierce debate about whether that's too much. Praful Bidwai, activist writer, says: "Ihe Indian elite is so insensitive to it's own people, so completely callous that it thinks it is perfectly reasonable to spend billions and billions of dollars upon armaments while millions of people starve."
Commodore (retired) Uday Bhaskar, defence analyst, says: "Look at the United States of America - 640 billion dollars. It's not like the United States does not have serious social issues which need investment, but clearly the decision of the political leadership, supported by the people, is that the country needs this expenditure."
Whether Indians support this rapid rise in arms spending depends a lot on what they already have, what vision they have for their country.
For the country's million-man armed forces, there's lots to celebrate these days.
An ageing fleet of Soviet-era equipment -- though it can still thrill the crowds -- is set to be replaced. A $40bn upgrade to the Indian arsenal, equipping it with firepower to match its emerging economic prowess.
New jet fighters, artillery, submarines and tanks -- the Indian military believes they are essential but critics say this massive military expenditure is indefensible in a country where two-thirds of the people still live in poverty.
In the flight path of these war machines, less than a kilometre from the Hindon base, people are still waiting for proper sanitation, wishing their children could get a decent public education, wondering even how they'll survive past next week.
"Our young people need better schools and jobs," says Srichand, a retiree. "old folks like me need a pension and some help buying food so we can get by."
Until now, India's defence spending has been about $25bn a year or about 2.5 per cent of its gross domestic product, much less than its Asian rivals, China and Pakistan.
Still, there's fierce debate about whether that's too much. Praful Bidwai, activist writer, says: "Ihe Indian elite is so insensitive to it's own people, so completely callous that it thinks it is perfectly reasonable to spend billions and billions of dollars upon armaments while millions of people starve."
Commodore (retired) Uday Bhaskar, defence analyst, says: "Look at the United States of America - 640 billion dollars. It's not like the United States does not have serious social issues which need investment, but clearly the decision of the political leadership, supported by the people, is that the country needs this expenditure."
Whether Indians support this rapid rise in arms spending depends a lot on what they already have, what vision they have for their country.