Amid Doklam standoff, India’s Defence Ministry seeks 'urgent' Rs 20,000 cr to be war-ready

Amid the ongoing Doklam standoff, India’s Defence Ministry has sought “urgent” extra Rs 20,000 cr to step up its process to modernise armed forces and make it battle ready, said an IBT report.

The Defence Ministry’s requirement came in a time when the country is locked in a serious border conflict with rival neighbour China.

The recent CAG report had also raised questioned Indian Army preparedness for any possible war. The CAG had said Indian military didn’t have ammunition to fight even a 10-day intense war.

In 2017-18, the Indian government had allocated a budget of Rs. 2.74 lakh crore for the country for defence sector which is around 1.6 per cent of the total GDP.

Also Read | Doklam standoff will be “very disruptive” for regional countries: UAE

"Of the initial annual allocation, about 50 per cent of capital and more than one-third of the revenue budget has already been spent," the International Business Times quoted Defence sources as saying.

Earlier on Wednesday, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said the Indian armed forces are strong enough to meet any challenge to the country’s security as he underlined that lessons have been learnt from the 1962 war.