by Will M Prise

Created on: July 25, 2008

IN MILITARY WE TRUST

While carrying large debt already, India is adding to the stack by ever-increasing its military spending, by bolstering the largest navy in the region, and by trying to maintain an arms race against Pakistan.

OPPORTUNITY COST OF BIG MILITARY SPENDING

A general principle of economics is the opportunity cost. The cost of doing something is measured by what has been forgone. In India's case it is largely choosing military expansion at almost all costs, while neglecting its needy women and children, so that it may remain modern on a world standard and competitively potent against Pakistan. Economist Amartya Sen, who called for softer economic policies for the poor in India, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998 for drawing international attention to India's lack of welfare reform in the country. Since 1998, India has forged ahead boldly on its military agenda, while its poorest continue to struggle.

NAVAL DOMINANCE

Boasting a powerful navy with the flagship, INS Viraat, at its head has been important for India as it has been trying for nearly fifteen years to become a blue-water navy (A blue-water navy is a long-range navy, whereas a brown-water navy is a short-range one). Some critics have claimed that India's navy is mostly for show, while others feel that India realizes that soon it may be in contention as a world power. Its naval expenditures seem to be a way to psychologically expedite its arrival to world power status.

THE BURDEN OF DEBT

India has a partially planned economy, in which it has two general types of expenditures, development (applies to infrastructure and economic growth) and non-development(applies to international affairs and military spending). Over the last ten years, non-development spending has increased five times, while funding for infrastructure development has been plagued by corruption and inability to complete projects. The Indian government has often been reticent to fund national infrastructure projects because of rampant corruption. Alternatively, though, military expenditures are closely monitored and rarely mired by corruption. A tragic problem that India faces is its foreign loan debt. For over a decade, India has been financing military growth with foreign loans. 40% of non-development expenditures in India go to interest payments. This is a huge percentage considering all the roads that need to be built, the people that need to be fed, and the ever-increasing problem of AIDS throughout the nation.

OLD PROBLEMS NEVER DIE

Social activists, like Mother Teresa, have been trying to turn around the poverty in India, literally, for decades. Mother Tereasa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Nearly 30 years later the same problems in India prevail. While India's navy is glistening, India's people are starving.

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