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DEFENCE: THE ESTABLISHMENT
Fighting Fire
As the bribery scam stalls routine defence procurement,
the Government tries to shake the paralysis by pushing through plans to
revamp the ministry
By Harinder Baweja
March, the month
that marks the end of the financial year, is the time when files move
quickly especially in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which, with a budget
outlay of Rs 58,587 crore, is the highest spending government wing. This
year, however, the on-camera bribery scandal has put a freeze on spending
and few want to have anything to do with files involving defence deals.
Last year too, the Rs 1,000 crore earmarked for capital expenditure remained
unused because of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe ordered
by former defence minister George Fernandes.
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ON THE DEFENSIVE: Singh (left)
works to undo the damage that forced out Fernandes |
This year, all procurement-be it big projects
like the UK Hawk Advance Jet Trainers worth $1.6 billion (Rs 7,360 crore)
or smaller purchases involving spares-has come to a standstill. In fact,
representatives of a Russian firm who were in Delhi when the Tehelka scandal
broke and who hoped to hawk a multi-barrel rocket-launcher system worth
Rs 600 crore, had to return without any business being conducted. Similarly,
three manufacturers were shortlisted for a deal involving 5.56-mm self-loading
rifles for counter-insurgency operations, but their tenders are still
awaiting appraisal. No one is keen to touch these files. Says former army
chief Shankar Roychowdhary: "My fear is that this will affect the
two key areas of modernisation and defence preparedness." A similar
slowdown was witnessed after the Bofors scam and the Kargil war showed
up both these deficiencies.
But even as three independent probes were ordered
by the Government, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee moved to dispel the impression
that the ministry was in a state of paralysis. The only file that moved
quickly related to recommendations on national security made by a Group
of Ministers before the scandal broke out. Acting on the advice of External
Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who holds additional charge of defence,
Vajpayee moved to implement some key recommendations. These were actually
drawn from voluminous reports by four committees formed post-Kargil to
look into issues like improving defence management, restructuring border
security, revamping the intelligence set-up and more coordinated efforts
in dealing with internal security. After the submission of reports, Vajpayee
had asked four cabinet ministers-home, defence, finance and external affairs-to
sift through them and reduce them to a manageable number. Now they came
in handy for the Government to show that it meant business.
Vajpayee homed in on two key recommendations
and asked Singh to get cracking on them. One dealt with major restructuring
of the command structure, which could see the emergence of a chief of
defence staff (CDS), in addition to the three service chiefs who would
continue to be in operational command of the forces. The new CDS is likely
to be the single-point adviser to the government on military affairs,
apart from heading the country's nuclear forces. Last week, National Security
Adviser Brajesh Mishra held a long meeting with Chief of Army Staff S.
Padmanabhan to see how best to evolve the structure.
As discussions continued, the Government moved
to streamline the much maligned defence procurement system. The current
system has led to duplication and delay, with little accountability. The
new plan envisages setting up a super Procurement Board within the ministry
that would have the weapon equipment directorates of the three forces.
Currently, the directorate of each force reports to its respective chief.
Meanwhile, the three chiefs tried to stem the
demoralisation in the forces. According to a senior officer, Padmanabhan
is disturbed because "the level of greed is apparent from the fact
that fictitious arms dealers were able to penetrate a system despite not
having any knowledge of military hardware''. The transcript is, indeed,
replete with examples of officers wanting to help West End (Tehelka's
non-existent company) sell thermal imaging cameras when the order for
the same had already been placed. Within 48 hours of the scandal Padmanabhan
got into action. He asked the officers who had accepted money on tape
to give an explanation. Simultaneously, a signal was sent to commanding
officers of all the units involved in counter-insurgency operations to
dispel the notion among the troops that while they were sacrificing their
lives for the country their seniors were accepting bribes.
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