Why can India do both: Increase defense spending and reduce poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease?
A4: Defense spending should not be a sacred cow. Huge increases shouldn’t get approved with little or no debate, and there should be much greater oversight of how it’s spent. It needs to be discussed and debated rationally in the parliament and the media. What I find is that there is more debate and discussion in Pakistan on defense spending than there is in India, in spite of the fact Pakistan is fighting a war against determined insurgents in the North West. In spite of its many other urgent issues like access to food, education and health care, it’s a shame that a huge 34% boost in defense budget got approved in India without much serious discussion. A similar dramatic increase in Pakistan would have elicited howls of protest and loud demands to curtail it.
