By IANS,
New Delhi : Saying that the Mumbai terror attacks had given “an entirely new dimension” to cross-border terrorism, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised the allocation for defence 34 percent to Rs.1,41,703 crore (Rs.1.417 trillion) in the interim budget for 2009-10 he presented in the Lok Sabha Monday.
The total revised expenditure for 2008-09 was Rs.1,14,600 crore against the allocation of Rs.1,05,600 crore, said Mukherjee, who was presenting the budget on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is recovering from coronary bypass surgery.
Of the allocation for the fiscal beginning April 1, plan expenditure has been pegged at Rs.86,879 crore against Rs.73,600 crore for the financial year just ending.
This includes Rs.54,824 crore for capital expenditure as against Rs.41,000 crore in the revised estimates for 2008-09.
“We are going through tough times,” Mukherjee said while delivering his budget speech, adding: “The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism.”
“A threshold has been crossed. Our security environment has deteriorated considerably,” the minister added.