A government has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure their safety Therefore, some people think that government should increase spending on defense but spend less on social benefits. To what extent you agree?

Defending and assuring the safety of its citizens is the prime responsibility of any

government

.

Therefore

, many people believe that the state needs to focus more on

defence

expenditure than on social benefits. In my opinion,

although

spending on

defence

is imperative, citizens should not be deprived of the benefits of social schemes which are equally important for the people. Protecting its people at all times from external aggression is paramount to the sovereignty of any state.

In other words

, attempts by neighbouring countries or terrorist organisations to attack the security forces or civilians can cause huge loss

to

Suggestion

of

public life and damage to property.

This

can be because of certain unsettled border disputes or political activism against democratic ideologies or any other geopolitical tensions caused by terrorism activities.

For instance

, the separatist movement backed by Pakistan in the Indian region of Kashmir has caused tremendous irreparable damage to public property and claimed thousands of innocent lives in the

last

20 years.

As a result

,

government

has to deploy a large number of military personnel in these border areas at the cost of billions of dollars.

By contrast

, if there was peace on all borders, the

government

can allocate sufficient funds for social schemes.

However

, the

government

should refrain

from

Suggestion

From

going overboard and ensure that excessive

defence

spending is not at the cost of social spending.

That is

to say, citizens, especially from the poor and lower-income class depend largely on assistance from the state in areas of

healthcare

Suggestion

health care

and education. The

government

needs to subsidise these activities for the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society.

This

is vital to narrow the inequality gap between the rich and the poor in the society.

This

is

also

equally as important as

defence

budget because ignoring the people from the lowest strata of society can cause imbalance and chaos in the country due to the stark inequality in people’s living standards. For overall development of the nation, it is the administration’s duty to provide the social benefits to

the poorest

Suggestion

the poor

of the poor.

For example

, the recent PAHAL scheme by the central

government

in India to distribute free

llqlLPG

connections to

the poorest

Suggestion

the poor

in villages has yielded favourable results by helping them use clean cooking gas. In conclusion, I believe that

defence

spending to thwart the aggression of unfriendly neighbours is as important as providing assistance to poor citizens through various social benefit schemes.