Impact of the Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Defence (15th Lok Sabha) on the Defence Budget

The examination of the detailed demands for grant (DDGs) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by the Standing Committee on Defence of the 14th Lok Sabha (2004–05 to 2008–09) and recommendations made by the committee had little impact on the country’s defence budget. While the examination was generally perfunctory, the recommendations were either too general or too impractical to be implemented by MoD. This is the second of two articles that examines how the Standing Committee on Defence of the 15th Lok Sabha (2009–10 to 2013–14) followed the same pattern. Its examination was based on pre-conceived notions about the size of the defence budget and, similar to its predecessor, the recommendations were too general to make any impact on the trajectory of the defence budget.