House defence panel must ask 4 key questions — from lower expenditure to pension bill

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence can bring much needed clarity on India’s national security that Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget didn’t answer.

When the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence meets this week to discuss the Budget allocations made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, we hope to get some clarity on the provisions made towards India’s national security. That’s because on defence, the Union Budget for FY2021-22 hides more than it reveals. Not only was ‘defence’ conspicuous by its absence in the finance minister’s Budget speech for the second consecutive year, the component-wise budgetary allocation also raises more questions than answers.

As the Committee examines the Demand for Grants of the defence ministry, we believe there are at least four important questions that the panel should ask.