New Delhi will spend in 2006-07 about the same on foreign arms as on education and health combined.
'The Raksha Mantri's day at sea'/
The DG said that the previous government was wary of constructing roads near the Line of Actual Control.
'Make in India'presents a huge opportunity for jobs.
'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.' 'He has to consult, he has to talk and he has to mobilise the best people, but having seen him function, I have no expectations from him.'
'Not only in Kashmir, but in the rest of the country.'
Chinese military build up is a cause of concern for the countries in the region, a top American commander said on Tuesday after China announced a 10 per cent increase in its defence budget.
India will replace its military personnel operating three aviation platforms in the Maldives with 'competent' Indian technical personnel even as New Delhi asserted that it remained an important development partner of the island nation.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said swift and transparent decision-making and availability of optimal resources were needed for a country's combat readiness.
Defence issues have been a key impediment in relations between the two countries, with Japan repeatedly joining the United States in voicing concern about China's rapidly growing military budget
With access to foreign investment becoming easier, a host of Indian companies vie for a share of the $100-billion budget for equipment.
'Is the appointment of a CDS likely to achieve the creation of battle-ready, tri-service military commands, from the current 17 single-service commands?', asks Ajai Shukla.
President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to build China's military into a "Great Wall of steel" to protect its sovereignty and developmental interests as he sought a bigger role for Beijing in global affairs, days after brokering a Saudi Arabia-Iran detente, regarded as a diplomatic coup.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
One hopes in his next term, Narendra Modi will take up the mission of inculcating respect for following rules in Indians as a mission. Therein lies the chance for India to become a developed country, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'The fiscal situation is stressed (when is it not?!), economic growth has slowed, tax revenue has fallen short and the deficit is high if it is properly accounted,' points out T N Ninan.
The Railways will grant 75 per cent concession from September 6 to widows of defence personnel killed in terrorist-action for travel in the second and the sleeper class of trains.
28 private sector companies are having FDI varying up to 26 per cent.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
India is confronted with a rapidly rising China and all its attendant consequences, says Harsh V Pant
The "bumper" 40 per cent increase followed a number of sweeping reforms intended to transform the "bloated People's Liberation Army, into a more modern, nimble fighting force".
The stock market will most likely see bullish trends this week in the run up to Union Budget as investors pin hopes on strong reform measures to rev up the economy, say experts.
China is the world's second-largest economy, after the United States.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
India's historical focus on its continental borders has overshadowed its maritime ambitions, but that is changing quickly, notes Ajai Shukla.
The army also stated that allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation is insufficient.
In an interview with a Turkish media house, Zardari, while raising concerns over the 30 per cent increase in India's defence budget following the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, said South Asian countries should focus on humanitarian issues rather than building armies and piling up devastating weapons.
Though the government says public and private shipyards compete on equal terms, public shipyards feast at the high table with the defence ministry, with only scraps being tossed to private shipbuilders.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
With Jaitley preferring continuity over change, good days might take a little longer to arrive, says Shankar Acharya.
Though not a blockbuster budget it does not undermine the fact that key issues were addressed and the finance minister certainly did not under-deliver, says Vatsal Srivastava.
Moving ahead with the economic reforms, the Cabinet tonight cleared the long-delayed proposal for raising FDI limit in defence to 49 per cent and fully opened up the railway infrastructure segment, like high-speed trains, for foreign investment.
Highlights of the Railway Budget 2004-2005 presented by the Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The move comes close on the release of a report by Pentagon, which suggested that China has moved its new advanced longer range CSS-5 missiles close to its border with India and developed contingency plans to shift airborne forces to the region at short notice.
All credit to the finance minister for walking the fiscal and expectation tightrope extremely well in his budget speech, says Ganesh Natarajan.
The Congress feels there was no articulation of a bold vision of a statement of intent in the Budget, no articulation of a direction in which the economy has to go, and it lacks imagination. Renu Mittal reports.
The PM's vision of a lean, agile, mobile and technology driven force requires more than 1.7 percent of GDP that it now gets.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget.
Three key babus will make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of Budget programmes.
