A massive show of the international arms trade is going to take place in India. Bangalore, the garden city of central India will host the Aero India 2009, which has been recognized as Asia's largest air force exhibition. Around 600 Indian and international companies come together for the exhibition starting on February 11.
Mentionable that India is one of the world's largest weapons importers. Between 2000 and 2007 India ranked world's second largest arms importer accounting for 7.5 % of all major weapons transfers. It stood fourth among the largest military spender in terms of purchasing power in 2007 followed by US, China and Russia.
"Over 1,130 companies in 98 countries manufacture arms, ammunitions and components. 90 % of Conventional arms exports in the world are from the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council namely USA, UK, Russia, China & France. The countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East hold 51 per cent of the world's heavy weapons. In 2002, arms deliveries to Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa constituted 66.7 per cent of the value of all arms deliveries worldwide," said Binalakshmi Nepram, Secretary General of Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI).
The New Delhi based activist, while talking to this writer, also added, "If we consider the current budget allocations in India for the year 2008-09, allocation for defence is Rs 105,600 crore which is 14.06% of total budget and around Rs 48,007 crore i.e. 45.5% of the defence budget is spent on arms and ammunitions."
"The global trade that fuels the epidemic of armed violence is not subject to international regulation. The arms industry is unlike any other. It operates without regulation. There are more regulations in music and film industry than in arms" Ms Nepram revealed.
But there are opposing views regarding New Delhi's fascination towards arms. One third of the world's poor lives in India. New Delhi spends eight times of its budget on the military than clean water and sanitation while more that 4,50,000 people die every year due to diarrhoea.
Dr Duarte Barreto of the Foundation of Educational Innovation in Asia (FEDINA), Bangalore questions, while 900 million people of our country lacks social security protection, a demand for unilateral 10 percent reduction in military expenditure is not a big deal. When people are dying of poverty, can security and arms provide them with a basic square meal?
As criticism towards the Indian militarization grows bigger, Indian civil societies have decided to organize a parallel event in Bangalore as an alternative action to the Aero India 2009. Three days of meetings, demonstrations and a round table conference will be held in Bangalore. The event, initiated by the CAFI, FEDINA, and the School of Law (Christ University, Bangalore) has been titled as Disarmament for Peace, Human Security and Development in 21st century India, which would focus on the consequences of the arms trade.
"In a country where poverty is rampant and where there is a great deal to be done in the fields of health and education, we cannot be spending so much on defence. Our battle is against starvation and deprivation, which cannot be fought with guns and missiles" says Arvind Radhakrishnan of School of Law, Bangalore's Christ University.
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