A successful foreign policy is predicated to a large measure on a country’s defence posturing. A robust defence posturing in turn is not possible without motivated men complemented by requisite arms and equipment. In the last decade or so, India’s defence preparedness suffered not only on account of lack of material wherewithal but subversion of the military leadership from external and internal vested interests.
Deliberately the three services were made to starve of most critical equipment imperative in conduct of operations during war. The army cannot fight without artillery support, but it was constantly denied 155mm guns. The navy’s submarine fleet dwindled to pathetic levels of 40 percent of the minimum requirement. The fighter squadrons of the air force were allowed to be depleted to nearly 60 percent of the mandatory need.
Internal and external sabotage was the main reason for India’s arms deficiencies. This became very clear with the disclosure with regard to routine acquisition of Tatra vehicles. A well-oiled corruption chain had evolved in procurement of these vehicles. In the first place, these vehicles were procured by the BEML, ironically a PSU of Defence Ministry, and sold to the Indian Army at four times the international market price. Cleverly, the perpetrators of this fraud on the army ensured that no suspicion was aroused, in that these routine procurements were made out of revenue budget and not capital budget. The perpetrators included senior officers in the army, including some army chiefs; officials of the PSU; bureaucrats; politicians and at least one national security advisor. This former NSA was literally pulled out from his tottering life by a journalist, to declare the then army chief as the ‘worst’ India had seen. The cardinal mistake that this particular army chief, now a minister in Modi’s cabinet, committed was that he put an end to this ‘Tatra loot’.
The same army chief had revealed as to how the Indian Army was deliberately denied 155mm gun, even as the blueprint of the Bofors Gun, for which India had paid in the 80s, was gathering dust in an ordinance factory of Jabalpur. The officials in the factory lamented that all these years they had been waiting for manufacture orders by the government. All this while, some officials in the army and the MoD purposely did never mention about the availability of technology transfer of Bofors Gun, all because money could be made only in buying from foreign companies.
In Mr Antony’s tenure as defence minister, procurement of all critical equipment that had reached fruition stage after years of painstaking trials and negotiations were torpedoed through manipulations of arms dealers. Mr Antony’s tenure exposed the symbiosis between foreign arms manufacturers, politicians and top military leadership. Officers considered unpliable in following corrupt diktats in arms procurement were hounded out on one pretext or the other. Gen VK Singh was inflicted with the age issue because he raked up several misdeeds in procurement like Tatra and 155mm guns. An ex-air force chief was made the scapegoat for VVIP helicopter scam. This air chief, if selective disclosures were to go by, was accused of siphoning a miniscule part of the kick-backs, the identity of the main beneficiaries are very well known to Mr Antony. Then in the Indian Navy, there were a series of 13 accidents. Lot of hue and cry was made about age related problems of these equipment. The then navy chief was harassed into resigning. Another naval officer was superseded. No sooner, as contrived, the desired naval chief took over, all age related problems of naval arms and equipment disappeared overnight. It was a clear case of sabotage for manipulation of naval hierarchy by internal and external forces, of which Mr Antony is more than aware.
The very edifice of India’s defence was therefore under attack by vested interests. Leadership was being manipulated, procurements were being sabotaged and the degree of defence preparedness was being dictated by external quarters. Bypassing the Army Chief, officials of the NSA office were passing orders directly to the army commander in J&K to go lenient on Pakistan’s misadventures on the Line of Control.
It is under these circumstances that the Modi government took over. To a degree, it has addressed the fundamental rot in the defence apparatus. While the armed forces leadership is a fate accompli inherited from the last regime, it has been ensured that the new policy and procurement procedures obviate the possibilities of wrong doing by this very leadership, which was put in place for internal and external manipulation.
During Mr Antony’s tenure, not even 25 percent of the strategic roads (19 out of 73) on our eastern frontiers were constructed as called for. As per the MoD, 16 of these border roads will be completed this year and by the year 2018, all the 73 will be in place.
The policy of the new dispensation has ensured that the clout and influence of the middlemen is neutralized. It has ensured that arms procurements are not sabotaged at the slightest behest. It has ensured that nothing comes in the way of defence preparedness. The decision to purchase 36 Rafale aircraft from France in government to government deal is giving many sleepless nights to the lobbyists. The other decisions with regard to procurement of absolutely critical items are: replacement of 56 Avro aircraft by Airbus C295 (40 to be made in India), procurement of 197 Kamov helicopters from Russia (to be made in India), procurement of 145 x M777 guns from US, an arming of six Navy War ships with BraMos missile. Thus, the government has ensure that the critical requirements of fighter aircraft, air transport capabilities of the air force, fire power and aerial capabilities of the army, and the requisite muscle of the navy are addressed.
The Modi government has therefore addressed the procurement concerns of critical items of the armed forces in a very innovative and imaginative manner. It has put a stop to the phenomenon of loot and subversion in the procurement process by way of vigilance and procedures. A message has gone down to the leadership of the armed forces that manipulators will no longer be tolerated. It has been pursuing creation of defence infrastructure with the sense of urgency, and by announcing ‘one rank one pension’, an age old demand by the veterans, it has demonstrated its commitment to the welfare of the soldier community.
A very impressive achievement in one year.
Defence Preparedness Back on Track » Indian Defence Review
