Parl panel recommends 1% of total Union Budget to MEA

New Delhi, March 21: The Ministry of External Affairs should strengthen manpower in its embassies abroad and set up missions in all UN member states in line with India’s expanding global stakes and considering the profound changes in the foreign policy domain, a parliamentary panel report said on Tuesday.
In the report, the committee on external affairs also recommended an allocation of at least one per cent of the overall annual budget of the government to the ministry in view of its challenging mandate to make India an influential nation in the world.
The panel said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) remains one of the least funded central ministries as its revised budget hover around just 0.4 per cent of the total budgetary allocation of the government from 2020-21.
The report of the committee headed by PP Chaudhary was tabled in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. “Keeping in view the magnitude and extent of India’s diplomatic outreach and foreign policy objectives, the committee continues to feel that an allocation of at least one percent out of the overall budget of the government of India to the ministry is reasonable and achievable,” it said. (PTI)