ribune News Service

New Delhi, May 21

Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar on Thursday said ways were being found to reduce the wage and pension bill at the Ministry of Defence. Addressing a wider strategic issue, he said the Indian Ocean Region was becoming “a threat” like the South China Sea (SCS).

The latter was the obvious unstated reference to China’s recent activities in the Indian Ocean, including building artificial islands near Maldives and the ongoing tussle in the contested hydrocarbon rich waters of the SCS.

He delivered a talk on “Covid-19, Resource Crunch and Defence modernization” and later answered questions at a web-seminar conducted by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) here.

On the Indian Ocean, he answered questions on “blue economy” euphuism for marine, fishing, minerals and energy, when he said security needs in Indian Ocean will have to be addressed, adding that the means of doing it are best left to experts.

On pensions, he said expenses rose from Rs 32,000 crore few years back to Rs 1,33,000 crore. “We have to look at ways to reduce pension and wage bill to free money for capital and modernisation,” he said. Possible extension of service (for jawans) which will reduce pension bill and long-term pension liabilities,” Dr Kumar said.