The 20 year old question again: Is Bangladesh’s Defence Expenditure Justified?

The defence segment has always been among highest expenditure sectors of Bangladeshi budget. Like every year, the issue on defence will not go through a debate this time. The MPs always keep the defence expenditure under a shield of secrecy; the situation is indifferent in this year. However, for the first time, finance minister Abdul Muhit has presented a list of military hardware in the budget declaration that the government plans to buy during the next fiscal year. But no more details are available.

But as government spends a huge portion of the taxpayers money on defence, may be this issue should be made more public. No one denies the necessity of strong armed forces. But no one is really sure how big a military does our country actually need. May be this issue should go through a debate whether the government should cut down on the defence expenditures, especially in our county where a huge portion of the people live under the poverty line.

Our military forces train their manpower intensely and bring out the best in them. From a driver to a pilot, from general soldiers to officers, everyone goes through skilled training and achieve extraordinary skills in their own sectors. Therefore, even after they retire from military work, we see military human resources joining in the various sectors of our country and contributing successfully. This is a result of the intense training and the defence budget is a part of it.

But many people might suggest that apart from training the human resources, is it really necessary to buy new tanks and ammunition and expensive aircrafts? The border issues Bangladesh has with India and Myanmar can easily be resolved with diplomatic dialogues. Waging a war against the neighbors is a century old idea which should have been obsolete by now. So if our country has very less chance of going on a war is it justified that the government spends about 7% of their total expenditure on the armed forces? Surely a major part of the 12,686 crore the government plans to spend on defence sector this year can be put to better use in our extremely needy country.

For the sake of our sovereignty we need a strong military force to repel aggressors. On the other hand, an economically challenged country like us needs all the money they can to provide the citizen with basic needs. Therefore, may be its time to put this issue out in the public for debate and clear all the doubts behind the reasons of such a huge expenditure on the defence sector of Bangladesh.


- Kazi Nayeem