Counting the cost of holding on to Siachen - Yahoo! India News
An interesting story on the world's highest battlefield and the huge costs that India has to spend in maintaining the troops. But then, one always gets these questions. Why spend money on a ballistic submarine when the money could be spent on the National Health Service? Why spend money on cosmetic surgery when the money can be spent on say breast surgery? why spend money on fat people when money can be spent on thin people? Why spend money on smokers when you can spend money on non smokers? why spend surgery money on a person who crashed his car while speaking on a mobile phone when the money could be spent on the victim who was run over by the car? why spend money on the NHS for bog standard non threatening operations when the money could be sent to darfur for starving people who are actually dying?......
But at the end of the day, the money that the state is a choice, just like individuals make a choice. The only difference is, the state (which is hopefully democratic) is spending based upon what the people want!. In this particular case, the Indian state thinks that it is worthwhile to expend all this money to protect boundaries and provide security. You can debate it till the cows come home (pun intended) but the democratically elected government of India has decided. :)
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