Bipin Rawat defends lower spending, says military plays limited role

Army Chief Naravane says roll out of IBGs delayed due Covid-19

Just days after a top ministry of defence (MoD) official warned of sharp cuts in the defence allocations for 2020-21, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, said the military should not be “misrepresenting its requirements” in order to “go in for large amounts of “weapons’ imports.”
 

Backing the government’s cuts on defence expenditure, Rawat said in Delhi on Saturday that military planners should stop pretending that India’s military was playing a global role. Given the military’s limited role, indigenously produced weapons were adequate, said Rawat.
 

“We are not expeditionary forces that have to deploy around the globe.