Indian Army 'deeply hurt by morphed photograph' on magazine cover

According to a PTI report, in March, the Army told a parliamentary panel it was reeling under severe fund crunch and struggling to even make emergency procurement when there was a real possibility of a two-front war and both China as well as Pakistan were carrying out modernisation of their defence forces in "full swing".

Indian army cadets take part in a Tactical Continuity Training' exercise at an Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on March 1, 2018. Cadets graduating from Officer training academy will be posted as lieutenants in the Indian Army. / AFP PHOTO / Arun SANKAR

New Delhi: The Indian Army has issued a statement over an article published in India Today magazine. The army said the cover photo on the magazine is “morphed” and has deeply hurt the sentiments of veterans and serving soldiers. “Concerns have been conveyed and response of #IndiaToday has been requested,” the army said in its tweet. The latest issue of the magazine had the cover picture of an army officer showing his empty pockets with the title ‘THE ARMY IS BROKE’.

Morphed photograph as cover photo in #IndiaToday for the week ending 14 May 2018 has deeply hurt sentiments of veterans and serving soldiers. Concerns have been conveyed and response of #IndiaToday has been requested. pic.twitter.com/f28u1Zchva

— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 8, 2018

The article talked at length about the obsolete military hardware used in the army. About 83% of the budget is consumed to pay salaries and for maintenance of equipment and facilities. With such cash crunch, the army is unable to save funds to procure modern equipment to fight and win wars against Pakistan and China. According to a PTI report, in March, the Army told a parliamentary panel it was reeling under severe fund crunch and struggling to even make emergency procurement when there was a real possibility of a two-front war and both China as well as Pakistan were carrying out modernisation of their defence forces in "full swing". During the Army Commanders Conference in April, an army official told the news agency that "considerable" time was devoted to "reprioritising" existing requirements to ensure that resources allocated for force modernisation and capacity building were optimally utilised within the budgetary allocation. Meanwhile, the Congress on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "stooped to really low levels" while campaigning for the May 12 Karnataka assembly election and accused him of politicising the Indian Army for electoral gains by dragging it into the poll campaign.