War ready? Defence Minister says snap red tape first

[kenchabhai]

New Delhi: It's the first official admission that India is not ready for war. The stunning acknowledgment came from none other than Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday.

Antony complained that he's unable to spend money on weapons desperately required for national security despite his pockets being full

"Even though our Government is earmarking huge budgets, it is not being fully reflected in our modernisation efforts. Allocation of money has never been a problem. The issue has rather been the timely and judicious utilisation of money allocated,” he said.

And, believe it or not, Antony blamed it on Red Tape in the ministry he heads.

"We need to cut down on unnecessary procedural delays, bottlenecks and red-tapism in our procurement mechanism," he said.

Under the present regime, Defence spending has fallen below two per cent of the GDP, despite mounting challenges.

India's rivals spend between three and five per cent.

26/11 too seems to have shaken up the authorities. The UPA Government, which had spent less than 10 per cent of its defence procurements budget till the Mumbai attacks, has now suddenly stepped on the accelerator.

For example, the critical air defence requirements which were stuck in the system for years, have now been cleared in one go.

“Big effort to plug gaps in India's air defence cover post 26/11, government has cleared years of backlog,” says Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Fali Major.

The Defence Minister has identified the problem. But nobody seems sure who will fix it, as thousands of crores of defence money are returned unspent, year after year.


War ready? Defence Minister says snap red tape first

 

[Flintlock]

Fantastic. I have never seen such a frank remark from the defence minister.

 

[duhastmish]

They just talk may be if the Indian defense people invest some time in finalizing the MRCA and other project will be better.
Dedication is just no there. Learn thing or two from china and America.

I hope they know there is nothing to be proud of here !!!

 

[nitesh]

ha ha ha good words

So the lobbying is on for increasing defense budget.

 

[keeninterest]

a very idiotic statement, and if that is what our raksha mantri has to say after around 2 years in office no matter how candid an admission that may be, that just shows the level of incompetency of the individual, and shows he is no solution but more a part of the problem. if i am not mistaken then they spent hell of a time on a report on quick procurement and if that report cant be implemented fast enough then these people need to make way for people who can clean up this nuisance red tape and get going than go public and complain about stuff which by now should have been cleaned up by the same individual who made the statement, no wonder they keep doing panic deals when they are caught with their pants down.

 

[Flintlock]

Bhai, the minister can only take decisions. He cannot speed up the beaureaucracy if the beaureaucracy wants to take its own time.

For that to happen, the beaureaucracy has to implement reforms, which is kinda hard because the people implementing them are beaureaucats!!

a very idiotic statement, and if that is what our raksha mantri has to say after around 2 years in office no matter how candid an admission that may be, that just shows the level of incompetency of the individual, and shows he is no solution but more a part of the problem. if i am not mistaken then they spent hell of a time on a report on quick procurement and if that report cant be implemented fast enough then these people need to make way for people who can clean up this nuisance red tape and get going than go public and complain about stuff which by now should have been cleaned up by the same individual who made the statement, no wonder they keep doing panic deals when they are caught with their pants down.

 

[keeninterest]

its a story of a dog with his master where the dog dictates the master, just having a non-corrupt minister is not enough who can not get the stuff done and then make a statement like a cry baby, oh it happens beacuse of so and so, as if he is good for nothing. if they have a report specifically on fast procurements then that has to be implemented and there have to be deadlines set for its implementation and if the concerned minister cant get it done timely then he has no business staying where he is. if i were to do they same in my company, the top management would have fired me by now, problem it the attitude where we accept every thing. we need to get off with that chalts hai attitude, and pass the buck attitude, RM is talking as if he is not a part of raksha mantraly.

 

[moha199]

New Delhi: It's the first official admission that India is not ready for war. The stunning acknowledgment came from none other than Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday.

Antony complained that he's unable to spend money on weapons desperately required for national security despite his pockets being full

"Even though our Government is earmarking huge budgets, it is not being fully reflected in our modernisation efforts. Allocation of money has never been a problem. The issue has rather been the timely and judicious utilisation of money allocated,” he said.

And, believe it or not, Antony blamed it on Red Tape in the ministry he heads.

"We need to cut down on unnecessary procedural delays, bottlenecks and red-tapism in our procurement mechanism," he said.

Under the present regime, Defence spending has fallen below two per cent of the GDP, despite mounting challenges.

India's rivals spend between three and five per cent.

26/11 too seems to have shaken up the authorities. The UPA Government, which had spent less than 10 per cent of its defence procurements budget till the Mumbai attacks, has now suddenly stepped on the accelerator.

For example, the critical air defence requirements which were stuck in the system for years, have now been cleared in one go.

“Big effort to plug gaps in India's air defence cover post 26/11, government has cleared years of backlog,” says Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Fali Major.

The Defence Minister has identified the problem. But nobody seems sure who will fix it, as thousands of crores of defence money are returned unspent, year after year.


War ready? Defence Minister says snap red tape first

Well then why all the talk of Attacking Pakistan with 5,000 targets. Instead India should off worked with Pakistan if not then should off made a strong protest and then worked with Pakistan over the problem. Why Bringing this war hysteria to Two nations. I believe it would off been more welcomed by Pakistan and Pakistan would off taken better steps by focusing only on terrorism then India and terrorism.