Union Budget 2020: CDS Bipin Rawat talks about 'prioritising pension management'

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Sunday reacted to the Finance Budget announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

While interacting with the news agency ANI, CDS Rawat said, " We will be prioritizing our requirements for acquisitions and other requirements. After that, if we feel the need for more funds, we will take the requirements to the government. There is no cause of concern."

"As the Chief of Defence Staff, my mandate is to prioritize the procurement of equipment keeping in mind the balanced modernization of the three services," CDS Rawat added. 

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CDS Bipin Rawat on prioritizing 'pension management'

Adding further to his statement, CDS Rawat also stated that he will be giving high priority to pension management. " I'll give high priority to pension management through an increase in age of retirement progressively in the 3 services keeping in mind the operational requirements of different arms & services." 

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Defence Budget

The Defence budget of 2020-21 saw a marginal hike, the defence budget was increased to Rs 3.37 lakh crore for 2020-21 against last year's Rs 3.18 lakh crore, belying expectations of a significantly enhanced allocation to fast-track long-pending military modernization. Out of total allocation, Rs 1.13 lakh crore has been set aside for capital outlay to purchase new weapons, aircraft, warships, and other military hardware. 

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The Union Budget speech

Sitharaman commenced the budget speech by stressing that this was a budget to boost the income and enhance purchasing power. She noted that the fundamentals of the economy were strong, inflation had been contained, banks had been cleaned up and formalization of the economy had taken place during the NDA government’s first term in office. Moreover, she talked about the positive impact after the introduction of GST and paid homage to the late Arun Jaitley for his invaluable contribution.

Thereafter, she listed the success of government schemes such as PMAY, Ayushmann Bharat, financial inclusion, etc. After this, she dedicated her speech to elaborate on the three prominent themes of the budget- aspirational India, economic development and caring society.

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(With ANI inputs)