New Delhi: In a strong indictment of the inadequate budgetary allocation for the Indian Army, Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand told the parliamentary panel on defence that Budget 2018-19 has “dashed” all hopes of modernisation of the force which is saddled with equipment of which more than two-third is “vintage”.
On the quality of equipment being used by the Army, the VCOS said, “The state today is 68 per cent of our equipment is in the vintage category, with just about 24 per cent in the current and 8 per cent in the state-of-art category.”
The acceptable ratio for any modern army is that one-third of the equipment should be in the vintage category, one third in the current category and one-third in the state-of-the-art category.
On the “Make in India” projects being pushed by the government, the VCOS said many projects may not be able to take off. “There is not adequate Budget to support the 25 ‘Make in India’ projects,” he said.
