Boots on the ground need bucks in the wallet

The government's failure to financially provision for the new troops it has sanctioned is hollowing out the army

The Union Budget for 2019-20 next week will trigger the predictable chorus of criticism that the capital allocation is inadequate for modernising the military’s warfighting arsenal — such as tanks, artillery guns, warships and combat aircraft — that should at minimum match, or ideally outclass, what our likely enemies will pit against us in a war. This concern, while valid, misses a greater shortcoming: The government’s continuing failure to financially provision for the 100,000 new troops it has sanctioned, but has still to adequately fund.
 
A dozen years of steady manpower growth, in which the army’s payroll has risen