sob
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This is one undisputed fact, that the political class deems itself more important than the nation.And by extension their security needs come ahead of the national security.
This point has recently been highlighted in an inadvertent slip by our Defence minister while commenting on the Scrapping of the deal with Airbus for the Refueling aircraft and the go ahead for the Choppers for VVIP duty.
This point has recently been highlighted in an inadvertent slip by our Defence minister while commenting on the Scrapping of the deal with Airbus for the Refueling aircraft and the go ahead for the Choppers for VVIP duty.
The full article is here.DEFENCE Minister A K Antony on Monday said that despite repeated requests by the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Ministry of Finance (MoF) scuttled a mega tender to procure mid-air tankers to support fighter operations but cleared another contract to procure VVIP choppers because of the "changed security scenario".
Antony said cancellation of the tanker contract for which the A330 MRTT (Airbus Military Multi Role Tanker Transport) had been chosen took place after the Finance Ministry refused to support the deal at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).At the same time, the Finance Ministry gave the goahead for a deal to procure 12 VVIP helicopters -- on which it had reservations earlier because of the high price tag -- due to security considerations.
Antony said the Defence Ministry sent the tanker contract for clearance thrice to the Finance Ministry but was forced to withdraw it due to the latter's disapproval.
"We had sent it to the Finance Ministry three times.
Unless Finance Ministry agrees to take it up with CCS, we cannot go ahead. Finance Ministry told us categorically they will not support it (in the CCS)," he said, responding to a query on cancellation of the deal.
While the tanker deal was cancelled on financial grounds, the government last week cleared another major contract to procure 12 VVIP helicopters that would be used to transport the President, Prime Minster and senior government dignitaries.This, despite there being similar reservations by the Finance Ministry on the price of the contract as well as the "single vendor situation" that had led to the selection of the AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopter.
Seeking to defend the government's decision on acquiring the helicopters while giving the tankers a miss, Antony said the Finance Ministry supported the helicopter deal after the Special Protection Group (SPG) insisted that new choppers were required in view of the changed security scenario.
"Not only the Air Force but the SPG also was involved. They told us due to the security scenario, we should consider this proposal and the Finance Ministry also agreed to take their comments and it was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security," he said.