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PM MODI Asks 41 Ordnance Factories To Furnish A Report On Their Achievements From 2013 Onwards

Stephen Cohen

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Of late, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, too, has been critical of the work culture and target achievement of OFs.

New Delhi: Used to a lenient and patronizing attitude on their work achievements by the governments of the day, state-owned ordnance factories (OFs) — employing nearly a lakh workers in its 41 factories across the country — have been asked by none other than the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to furnish a report on their achievement from 2013 onward.

Confirming the development, a top source in the defense ministry told this newspaper: “The PMO has written the letter to the secretary, defense production, who controls the OFs. The February 16 letter seeks of OFs to give a report on all the items and products they have produced in the last three financial years along with details of the costs involved, besides photographic evidence.”

The source added that the reports have to be furnished by Tuesday (February 28) and the order includes not just the factories producing ammunition and weapons but also those producing and supplying clothing and other equipment to the troops.

Performance of OFBs has been anything but satisfactory. In 2013, OFBs could meet the targets on only 39 per cent of the items required by the Armed Forces. The PMO’s order is significant in view of soldiers from the armed forces and paramilitary taking to social media in recent days to vent their angst on the quality and quantity of items they are being given by the OFs. Of late, defense minister Manohar Parrikar, too, has been critical of the work culture and target achievement of OFs.

Tracing its origin to British India in 1787, OFs are the oldest and largest organisation in India’s defense industry. The 41 factories are divided into five verticals — ammunition and explosives; weapons, vehicles and equipment; materials and components; armored vehicles; and ordnance equipment. The 41 OFs are under the administrative control of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which is under the MoD’s department of defense production.

While the Army is the main client of OFs accounting for 80 per cent of the production, the Air Force and Navy together account for less than 4 per cent of the factory issues with paramilitary forces and the state police forces accounting largely for the rest.

The primary objectives of OFs are to supply quality arms, ammunition, tanks and equipment expeditiously to armed forces, to modernize production facilities and to achieve substantive self–reliance, to absorb latest technology and conduct in-house research and development besides enhancing the potential of small and medium enterprises in the country’s stated objective of indigenisation. There is a widespread belief that OFs have been falling far short of achieving their targets.
 
Even though i have serious doubts on the competence of Modi , his intentions all seem to be in the right direction. But the entrenched babus who deny armymen normal dues ever going to be held responsible for their performance.
 
Atleast they have made some sound about it, its time to *no disrespect intended* kick some butts from higher managment and clean up the work culture over there.
 
I would have expected Manohar Parrikar to demand such a report. Why has it come from the PMO ?
 
Everything Modi seems to say and do, is exactly what the public wants to hear.

For that reason he will win a 2nd term as PM of India
 
Shouldnt stop outsourcing of ammo, small arms, etc. productions to the likes of Bharat Forge, etc. That shouldnt be delayed any further.
That road has been laid out now, the inclusion of the private sector into the defence industry has grown expotnetially under the NDA and will not cease. If anything, this report to PMO will be used to justify increased outsourcing.

Everything Modi seems to say and do, is exactly what the public wants to hear.

For that reason he will win a 2nd term as PM of India
2nd term is assured thanks to the non-existent credible oppostion to him. But that is irrelevent, what he does as PM is what counts- not his duration as PM.
 
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