Impact of the Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Defence (14th Lok Sabha) on the Defence Budget

In the run-up to the voting on the budget, detailed demands for grant(DDGs) presented by various ministries to the Parliament are examinedby the departmentally-related standing committees. As Parliamentcannot possibly examine more than 100 DDGs presented to it everyyear, these committees are required to examine them in detail and reportback to the Parliament. One such committee is the Standing Committeeon Defence. This article looks at the manner in which this Committeeexamined the DDGs of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over a 10-yearperiod from 2004-05 to 2013-14, and the impact of its recommendationson the trajectory of the overall defence budget. This is the first oftwo articles which focuses on the tenure of the 14th Lok Sabha from2004-05 to 2008-09. The second part would cover the tenure of the15th Lok Sabha from 2008-09 to 2013-14.