Doesn India need to spend more on defense to fight the terrorists in the region?
A2: The military brass in India used the Mumbai attacks in late 2008 to argue for and win a 34% increase in defense budget. But terrorism is just an excuse by Indian military to get large funds and buy expensive cold war era weapons which are useless against the asymmetrical threat from the terrorists any way. It lines the pockets of the arms dealers (and a few corrupt generals and officials) without increasing India’s security against potential terror attacks. The 34% increase can not be explained by Indian military pay hikes either, given India’s huge weapons’ shopping list and its status as one of the biggest importers of military hardware in the world. The real aim is to intimidate India’s neighbors, and assert India’s hegemony. But it won’t work as long as India has serious challenges of poverty, illiteracy, hunger, social inequity and multiple insurgencies at home by its most impoverished citizens.
