The Hindu : Govt. fails to approve major defence purchases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 02, 2003

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Govt. fails to approve major defence purchases

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 1. The last meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for the fiscal 2002-03 failed to approve any big ticket purchases for the armed forces. The inability of the Government at the highest levels to approve some major deals has resulted in the Defence Ministry returning over Rs. 7,000 crores to the Central exchequer.

The armed forces will now be pinning hopes on the current fiscal to meet some of their long standing demands for major military hardware. The Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, has promised to loosen the purse strings and allocate over and above the allocated amount should the defence sector require more money.

While the Finance Minister has promised to be liberal when it comes to demands for funds from the armed forces, the real problem is the indecisiveness at the highest levels, especially the CCS of which Mr. Singh is himself a member.

The files relating to major purchases such as Scorpene submarines from France, advanced jet trainers from Britain and some major equipment on the army's account are pending with the CCS.

Apart from approving the purchase of anti-insurgency equipment for the army and corvettes for the navy, those CCS meetings that focussed exclusively on defence purchases failed to approve the purchase these items.

Apart from some desultory political opposition, decks are clear for the signing of the contract with a French company for the submarines. The huge hike in the allocation for `naval fleet' in the current fiscal gives rise to the hope that the contract could be inked shortly.

However, the Government is itself to blame for the mess on the AJT front.

Just over a year back, British Aerospace had agreed to replace all equipment of American origin in the advanced jet trainer and the difference in the price being offered.

Yet, there was no final decision and the Americans came back strongly by offering a U.S.-Czech variant after sanctions were lifted.

As a result, the Government is now faced with the problem of having to consider this offer. The end result is a delayed decision that is forcing trainee pilots to continue with advanced training on MiG-21 aircraft.

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