View: Creating air of certainty for services, defence budget and the way forward

On the face of it, defence allocations in the Union Budget (2021-22) have more or less been on the beaten track. There has not been any significant increase in the total allocation, including pensions, which stood at ₹47,8165 crore compared to ₹47,1378 crore in 2020-21. While allocation for pension has been reduced by ₹18,000 crore because of the exclusion of arrears it is heartening that capital allocation, critical for modernisation and