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>NEW DELHI - INDIA announced on Monday a hefty 24 per cent hike in its defence budget for the upcoming fiscal year as its military fast-tracks acquisitions following the Mumbai militant attacks.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee attributed the increase, the steepest in recent years, to fallout from last November's attacks in Mumbai by gunmen who India says came from nuclear-rival Pakistan.
'We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism,' Mr Mukherjee said in presenting an interim budget to parliament.
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