India Won't Change Standards To Speed Buys: Antony

[john70]

This man Antony is turning out to be good.....

I would rate him higher in Indian defence minister's list now.

Under him our forces are transforming rapidly.



NEW DELHI — Despite criticism of the Indian Defence Ministry's slow pace of weapon procurement, Defence Minister A.K. Antony has reiterated that core values of transparency and accountability will not be surrendered to fast-track purchases.

"While modernization remains the topmost priority of the government, and to achieve the same a mechanism has been put in place to fast-track procurement of equipment and upgradation of infrastructure, this cannot be done at the cost of a set of core values — transparency, probity and accountability," Antony said.

Addressing the Unified Commander's Conference here April 24, Antony urged all commanders to ensure that these principles are adopted and followed in letter and spirit, according to a Defence Ministry statement.

The ministry has failed to spend all the money allocated to it for buying fresh weapons and equipment in the last 10 years because the contracts are getting delayed on procedural issues, an Indian Army official said.

This year, about $600 million was surrendered in the budget of 2011-'12, mainly because two contracts were not finalized. The total value of those contracts was $580 million for ultra-light howitzers and $750 million for the purchase of 197 light utility helicopters.

The Defence Ministry now revises procurement procedures on a year-to-year basis to fine-tune the policy.

Antony asked the military services to put their best foot forward by having a well-defined approach to procurement, based on clear and objective General Staff Qualitative Requirements.

He said there also is a need to ensure that procedures are strictly adhered to, and the services ensure the timely meeting of technical parameters, according to the statement.

 

[Blackwater]

Mr dhoti wala, Nothing gonna change, companies will continue to offer kick backs and India will continue to delay procurements

 

[bengalraider]

What Anthony fails to realize is that there is a cardinal rule of trade the world over throughout history this rule simply is" Large sums of money will incite corruption no matter what"
i was witness to a gathering of arms dealers at a reputed Delhi hotel recently(i was not past of the gathering) the fleet of big luxury SUV's gave those guys away i counted three Range rovers, one G wagon, at least 4 Cayennes and a plethorae of landcruisers and touaregs in the parking.

What the Hon'ble Defence minister needs to realize is that before trying to put others houses in order one should fix his own we have far too much corruption and nepotism in our defence PSU's not to mention a lackadaisical and tawdry sense of working. unless those change and we get world class weaposn made domestically we will forever be at the mercy of arms dealers from around the world.

 

[Ray]

We have seen in another thread what Mayadas had to say of the Bofors.

One really does not know what is the answer!

 

[prateikf]

India will change standards only in deals where the lives of VVIP's are involved such as the deal for 12 VVIP helicopters which was done in record time inspite of several issues.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Shameful politicians do not realize the urgency until China or Pakistan attacks us............

 

[Blackwater]

Kick backs are not bad unless product are good.. kick backs is part of today's cooperate world..

 

[sob]

Defence deals are by nature done secretly and due to this there will always be scope for corruption. When millions of dollars are at stake what is a couple of million here and there.

Sometimes the paranoia to keep out agents can go to ridiculous extents. I used t work for a European MNC and even after 5 years of Bofors incident I was not allowed inside HAL or DRDO labs. They wanted to meet only the white man from Europe and not his employee here in India. It was only in middle 90s that things changed.

 

[shubhamsaikia]

Look we can't keep critisizing. When a fast-track deal will be done, people will say the government was bias for a company and incase of a trial it takes too long... so people have to decide...

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Atleast speed up indigenous efforts.

 

[ashicjose]

Plz let DM to do his good job, Some one said its ok until we get good stuff ,but my friends these companies giving them bribe becoz they fear that better one may takeover.If someone taking something he have to make some adjustments.

 

[Ray]

See the muck being thrown up with the Bofors even today.

There is no doubt that there is some herapheri.

Mayadas' article shows that the Bofor was not even the best gun!

So, what is the answer?

 

[bengalraider]

The fact remains that DEFEXPO is the only EXPO where TAJ maintains a restaurant for the entire duration of the EXPO , it is at this venue that deals are discussed and military men mix freely with MOD bureaucrats and both hob nob with Arms agents and dealers, out there in the open. Arms has always been a business where hundreds if not thousands of crores change hands, one of the best examples of an arms agent is retd admiral nanda who now owns the Claridges hotels in Delhi and surajkund, one the Delhi sales head of Luis Vuitton told me that Delhi had the highest sales volume in Asia for LMVH far above that of shanghai or Mumbai , most of these sales he added were on basis of gifts they delivered directly to government officials and ministers from phone orders they got.
Defence has been and will remain to be a business where the middleman will always have a say for the simple reason that these hustlers are employed by big defence firms to tip the scales in their favor, it would make much more sense for the government to legalize arms agents and tax them at a high rate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjeev_Nanda

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

But then, HOW GOOD IS THE BOFORS GUN in reality. As far as the 1999 Kargil war is concerned the gun worked perfectly according to the soldiers. Please bring in some facts about the ability of the gun in reality.

 

[bengalraider]

But then, HOW GOOD IS THE BOFORS GUN in reality. As far as the 1999 Kargil war is concerned the gun worked perfectly according to the soldiers. Please bring in some facts about the ability of the gun in reality.

The gun is no doubt one of the better pieces of artillery used by any armed force on the planet, it's just not the best!

 

[ajay_ijn]

Mr dhoti wala, Nothing gonna change, companies will continue to offer kick backs and India will continue to delay procurements

a better way is to go for govt to govt deals, ofcourse then there would be political influence.