Claude Arpi is an expert on the history of Tibet, China and the subcontinent. He was born in Angoulême, France. After graduating from Bordeaux University in 1974, he decided to live in India and settled in the South where he is still staying with his Indian wife and young daughter. He is the author of numerous English and French books including ‘The Fate of Tibet,’ ‘La Politique Française de Nehru: 1947-1954,’ ‘Born in Sin: the Panchsheel Agreement’ and ‘India and Her Neighbourhood.’ He writes regularly on Tibet, China, India and Indo-French relations. In the present article, he analyses the pathetic state of the country's defence sector.
India’s defence sector is today facing one of the grimmest times since the debacle of 1962. Many will infer that it is because India is a democracy governed by the rule of law and not a totalitarian regime. It could be, let us first have a look at the facts.
On July 10, A K Antony, the Defence Minister, announced that the 155-mm artillery guns fielded by Bofors and Israel’s Soltam had not met the Army’s parameters during field trials. The government had decided to refloat a global tender.
He explained that the Army was not satisfied with the field trials over four years. “We will issue fresh tenders at the earliest and ensure that these guns are inducted into the Army within the shortest possible time”. Euphemism! Four rounds of trials had been conducted between 2002 and 2006.The then Chief of Army Staff, General J JSingh confirmed that the guns from Bofors and Soltam had not met qualitative requirements. The deal estimated at Rs 4,000 crore was for 400 155-mm 52-calibre guns with India showing her interest to manufacture more than a thousand guns under the transfer of technology. The Pakistani newspaper Daily Times commented: “The real reason for issuing the fresh global tender is to avoid buying the guns from the company that supplied the Bofors guns in 1979, resulting in a political turmoil with allegations of kickbacks to the then Prime Minister, late Rajiv Gandhi. Fears that the Opposition would link the two deals, re-ignite the Bofors scandal, and use it against the Congress in upcoming elections, led to the move.” They might be right.
Next episode. The website, DefenseNews.com on September 3, announced: “The Indian Air Force’s planned purchase of 18 Spyder Low Level Quick Reaction Missiles (LLQRMs) from Israel’s Rafael Armament Development Authority may be in jeopardy. Defence Ministry officials have asked that the estimated $325 million procurement plan be reviewed by the Central Vigilance Commission.”
Rumors spread that the ministry would cancel the contract with Israel following allegations of illegally influencing the purchase process. The site commented: “The decision of the government has come out at the time when India has just started the process of major upgradation of its air defence systems.” Analysts thought that the Ministry was keen to diversify its procurement and that Israel would emerge as one of the major Indian partners, bringing a balance in the over reliance on Russia.
Two months later, the news broke that the order from the European consortium Eurocopter for 197 helicopters for the Indian Army had been cancelled in an abrupt communiqué. The Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar gave no reason for the decision. Here again this comes after several long years of tenders and trials, during which the Eurocopter emerged as the front-runner for the deal. Kar just stated: "A fresh RFP will be issued shortly." Strange! Some press agencies quoting sources in the defence establishment said that the negotiations were terminated because of “major deviations in the approved parameters of the helicopter and procedures.” It was later denied by the representatives of the European company in a press conference in Delhi. The Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a Division of European Aerospace and Defence Systems (EADS), a world leader in aerospace (of Airbus fame) and defence. The only competitor in the race for the deal was Bell of the US.
It was murmured that the Bush Administration had more clout in the corridors of South Block than its French or German counterparts. It is possibly true, but the next question is, what will happen to the selection process for 126 fighter planes? Will it follow the same fate?
An interesting article appeared in the Business Standard written by Ajai Shukla, a journalist with an army background. He asked a very pertinent question: Did the babus, who cancelled the deal, have a thought about those who valiantly fight to defend India’s borders? He particularly mentioned the troops on the Siachen glacier: “For those jawans, and for tens of thousands of others like them who have already been cut off by the snows, this decision means a clear reduction in chances of survival.” George Fernandes had set up the good tradition of sending senior officers of the Ministry to the glacier to get direct knowledge of the consequences of their decision; this has probably been abandoned.
We all know the unfortunate way of planning in the land of Bharat. It is only after a soldier dies that someone starts thinking that coffins are urgently needed. Coffins are then quickly purchased, but soon after the CAG enters into the picture and objects: “Illegal! The three statutory quotations were not obtained and field trials not conducted”. It becomes a major scam and the Ministry decides to draft new rules and regulations, more rigorous to avoid future scams. The new rules are so stringent, that hardly any deal can pass through the net.
In the chopper case, Shukla rightly points out: “The cancelled purchase from Eurocopter had taken six years to fructify. Whether another selection procedure will end in a perfectly objective decision is already well known: it will not”.
As a result of “some pending decision in acquisitions”, last year the Ministry had to return almost 3,000 crore in the capital outlay section itself. Under the fiscal responsibility law, the ministries, which are unable to spend the money allocated to them in the prescribed timeframe, have to return the unspent funds. Every year, money has thus been returned to the Consolidated Fund of India.
You will tell me: what can India do? True, the babus are ruling India. An IAS officer that I encountered in the past was nicknamed ‘The Abominable No Man’. This person would write ‘no’ to any proposal and find rules to justify his decision; during his long career he had discovered that it was the safest way to never be caught one day by the CAG, CVC or the dreaded RTI.
Even if politicians had the will to change this state of affairs, they probably won’t able be able to. Babudom is too engrained in India’s working pattern and even the CAG is said to have admitted: “The emphasis seems to be on technical compliance through a multitude of detailed rules and regulations rather than on creating a new organisational culture, which focuses on results.” The only solution would be to leave such decisions to the Army, but you will be told that it is extremely dangerous; we could end up the Pakistan way. “Better to rein in the Generals! And the Army is not what it used to be!”
Shukla also reveals that India is the only major country that plans its defence one year at a time. India is supposed to have a 15-year Long-Term Integrated Procurement Plan (LTIPP), now the CAG has reported that the LTIPP 2002-2017 was finalised in 2006 only. What about the years between 2002 and 2006? Lost! In any case, with only a year left for the 10th defence plan, a revised LTIPP has now been ordered. It should be ready in 2009. But similar fate will probably await the new avatar. True, it is not in the Indian psyche to think so much in advance. The gods are supposed provide on a daily basis for our basic requirements (including defence?), so why to bother?
The problem is not faced by the Army alone. The Navy has its share of misfortunes. Will the diplomats able to salvage the sinking deal for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Purchased for one dollar (or rouble, I don’t remember), the ship was to be refurbished in the Sevmach dockyards in Russia for $650 million. It was supposed to be ready in 2008, but Russia has now announced that it would cost $1.2 billion and the transformation work will be completed in 2111 only. The Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had to speak bluntly: India might have to look elsewhere for hardware if contractual obligations are not respected. Whether India cancels the deal or not, the Navy is in a difficult situation today.
This sorry state of affairs of India’s preparedness became even more apparent when Antony visited the Sino-Indian border in Sikkim: “It is an eye-opener for me. There is no comparison between the two sides. Infrastructure on the Chinese side is far superior. They have gone far in developing their infrastructure".
The minister honestly admitted that China was far ahead. After visiting Nathu La, he however promised that he would take vigorous steps to develop the frontier areas to match China.
Indeed, India can be proud to be the largest democracy in the world and the armed services can be proud to have an honest Minister, but it is today clearly not enough. India should be ready for any eventuality and for this, drastic changes in the bureaucracy are required. Will the Government will bold enough to take the necessary step is another question.
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