Compare it to what the Budget sets aside for spending on health. Rs 15 billion more than last year. Though I should point out that much of that increase will pay for a midday meal scheme for primary school children. And while primary education gets at least this boost in the Budget, secondary and higher education will have to cope with lower amounts to spend. Less than Rs 50 each on education.
Defence eats up over five times as much as health and education spending combined.
Nobody thinks this is in the least unusual. In fact, as I said earlier, the only dissenting voices about defence spending belong to those who think it should be even higher than it is. The Navy has not added 'a single big ship since 1988,' a rear admiral worries. Jaswant Singh, also of the BJP and finance minister himself for 13 days recently, thinks defence should have been allotted more than Rs 300 billion. Not one of these people has anything to say about education and health expenditures.