Is the Indian Army in such penury that it can't even buy uniform for its soldiers?

This is exactly what some media reports going viral in social media seem to suggest. What is even more surprising is the fact that leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh have lapped up these reports and chose to tweet them from their twitter handles with stinging comments.

Rahul Gandhi targeted PM Narendra Modi through his tweet - MAKE (empty slogans and useless acronyms) IN INDIA....meanwhile, make our soldiers buy their own clothes & shoes.

MAKE (empty slogans and useless acronyms) IN INDIA....meanwhile, make our soldiers buy their own clothes & shoes. https://t.co/UaWqsIhnQx Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 5, 2018

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh was even more sarcastic and tweeted - Shame on you Mr Modi, you have enough money to roam around the world but paucity of funds to buy uniform for army soldiers.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi also attacked PM Modi on the basis of a media report and tweeted - Paucity of funds force soldiers to buy uniforms on their own. Kahaan hai maun Modiji? This is the first government in India's history that does politics full on army, delivers nil to them. Shame.

Paucity of funds force soldiers to buy uniforms on their own.

Kahaan hai Maun Modiji? This is the first government in India's history that does politics full on army, delivers nil to them. Shame. https://t.co/w4ZIuFrwgf June 5, 2018

But is the situation really so grim for one of the biggest armies in the world? We decided to do a fact check of the reports related to shortage of funds for the purchase of uniforms.

A ministry of finance office memorandum dated August 2, 2017 reveals that the rules regarding supply of uniforms were changed last year with the implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission. According to the recommendations, the system of providing uniforms and various kinds of allowance regarding dress and its maintenance were merged into one consolidated "Dress Allowance", to be paid annually.

The order (point no. 3) clearly says that "categories of staff who were earlier being provided uniforms, will henceforth not be provided with uniforms". The order was implemented with effect from July 1, 2017.

According to the memorandum:

The officers of the Army/IAF/Navy/CAPFs/CPOs RPF/RPSS/IPS/Coast Guard will get Rs 20,000 annually while personnel below officers' rank will get Rs 10,000 annually as Dress Allowance.

The amount of Dress Allowance shall be credited to the salary of employees directly once a year in the month of July.

The rates of Dress Allowance will go up by 25 per cent each time Dearness Allowance rises by 50 per cent.

The allowance covers only the basic uniform of the employees. Any special clothing like that provided at Siachen glacier or inside a submarine will continue to be provided as per existing norms.

The copy of the office memorandum available on the website of the ministry of Finance can be accessed here.

The media reports quoted by Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh to underline the scarcity of funds also tries to make another point apart for the emotive issue of uniforms. The reports suggest that due to shortage of funds "Army has decided to drastically cut down its supplies from state owned Ordnance Factories. This move is to ensure that the money spent is instead used to procure adequate stock of critical ammunition and spares for a short intense war."

This inference about cutting down on the supplies from Ordnance Factory is also misleading. The decision to cut down the supplies from the Ordnance Factories was taken last year in April.

The Department of Defence Production letter dated April 27, 2017 reveals the real reasons behind it. The letter clearly says that on the basis of the reports of two committees, which were constituted for increasing the operational efficiency of the Ordnance Factories, it has been decided that the production facilities for non-core items being produced by these factories has to be closed down or put on PPP model.

The letter said that now it will NOT be mandatory for the Army to buy the 143 non-core items from the Ordnance Factories and it can float open tenders for them in which the OFB (Ordnance Factory Board) can also participate.

When questioned about the reports claiming shortage of funds, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in a press conference on Tuesday strongly refuted it.

"The defence expenditure has been highest in 2017-18 if you look at it since 2004-05. In same manner, it was second highest in 2016-17 & third highest in 2015-16. The fourth highest defence expenditure since 2004-05 was in 2014-15."



- Smt @nsitharaman on Defence Expenditure Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) June 5, 2018

It is clear that even the curtailing of expenditure on Ordnance Factories has nothing to do with the paucity of funds. This policy decision was based on numerous complaints regarding the quality of products being manufactured by Ordnance Factories.

Not only the government had to face questions in Parliament regarding the poor quality of the products being doled out by OFs, even the CAG had pulled up the government for not ensuring quality control at the Ordnance Factories. Based on the assessment of the working of OFBs, the defence ministry had even taken the extreme step of sacking 13 senior Ordnance factory officers in August 2017.

While the term "paucity of funds for Defence" covers a vast arena and is a subject of wider debate, at least the inference drawn by Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh regarding the uniforms for soldiers, based on some media reports, can't be termed accurate.