Dr Rajan Katoch, IAS (Retd) is a former Secretary, Heavy Industry, Government of India. In the course of a distinguished civil service career, he has served in the Finance and Commerce Ministries, and on deputation to the World Bank.
An unusual, multi-dimensional conflict is underway in Europe. One dimension of this conflict is that Ukraine and Russia are engaged in seemingly endless conventional military battles on the ground in Ukraine. The other dimension is that United States (US) led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance is arming and funding Ukraine for these battles. The alliance is also pursuing an all-out economic war against Russia through trade and financial sanctions against Russia, and Russians.
Huge budget deficits and the need to spend on fiscal stimuli are bound to impact upon defence budgets and the ability to undertake long-term overseas operations. While India is likely to emerge from the crisis somewhat better off than most countries, the strategic shifts in global power may not all be to India’s advantage.
Defence can seldom ignore the standard economic problem—the need to make critical often hard resource choices. Yet the output of defence studies focuses almost entirely on professional and strategic issues, and little on finance or economics. There is a presumption in most countries that the needs of defence must be met, and often they are met without
