This Is in Contradiction To Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Promise Of Speedy Revamp Of Weapons To Have The Forces Fully Prepared For Any
Eventuality
New Delhi : The Government has
slammed brakes on the defence purchases in the current financial year by
quietly shelving Rs 13,000 crore in the budget for the three Armed Forces.
This is in contradiction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
promise of speedy revamp of weapons to have the Forces fully prepared for any
eventuality.
The Defence Ministry was last week asked to re-appropriate this
much money from the capital outlays towards the revenue expenditure which means
a cut of over Rs 4,000 crore in the purchase list of each of the Army, Navy and
Air Force.
The alibi for moving the money to the revenue account is to
fulfill the Modi government’s commitment to the military veterans for
“one-rank, one-pension” (OROP). Though Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar put
the cost of OROP at Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore, the Finance Ministry went
asked the Defence Ministry to divert money from the capital account as it went
by the estimate of the controller-general of defence accounts that it would
cost around Rs 14,200 crore. The capital outlay in the maiden budget of the
Modi government by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was Rs 94,587 crore in the
total defence budget of Rs 2,29,000 crore.
About 80 per cent of the capital outlay goes into servicing the
committed liabilities of contracts already signed for purchases.
Though Parrikar has been blaming A K Antony, the defence
minister in the UPA government, for big backlog of acquisitions, he is now left
with little for the purchase of new guns, warships and fighter planes to
replace the outdated weapons and as such the Indian Forces will be handicapped
in the event of any military misadventure by the neighbours.
The defence experts find no weight in Parrikar’s boast last week
to put in place a new defence procurement policy by March for faster
acquisitions. They say the purchases do not materialise overnight and more so
when there is no money in the kitty to go for speed-buying.
They say the capital outlay cut of Rs 13,000 crore would delay
the Navy’s order for three additional frigates of the Shivalik class that were
to be made at Mazgaon Docks in Mumbai and the Army’s plan to acquire new small
arms.
The cut may also affect a tottering IAF plan to buy medium
multi-role combat aircraft Rafale from French firm Dassault Aviation within
this financial year. The IAF’s plan to buy the Rafale alone is estimated to
cost Rs 15,000 crore in the first year as per a report of the parliamentary
standing committee tabled in the Lok Sabha last month by BJP MP and retired
Major General BC Khanduri.
The reduction in the capital outlay has also cast shadow on the
joint Army-IAF plan to acquire Apache-64D attack helicopters from the US-based
Boeing, though the government may be forced to go through placement of the
order in the light of the US President Barack Obama coming here as the chief
guest of the Republic Day Parade on January 26.
By FPJ Bureau :
http://freepressjournal.in/govt-puts-brakes-on-defence-purchases/#sthash.0vu0okpg.dpuf
There remains doubt for such alibi.
ReplyDelete