By Vishnu Makhijani. Delhi, India, 11:03 PM IST
India's new defence purchase policy enunciated Friday has at least two glaring loopholes that will enable its circumvention, even as it provides the private sector much cause for cheer.
The loopholes pertain to the provision for fast tracking the purchase of military hardware worth up to Rs.4 billion ($95 million) and for placing repeat orders for equipment that is already in the armed forces inventory.
On the plus side, the Defence Procurement Procedure-2008 (DPP-2008) that Defence Minister A.K. Antony released here Friday creates a level playing field for the private sector vis-a-vis the defence public sector enterprises and holds out hope for the much-maligned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Still on the plus side, the document lays down a two-year time frame for issuing a request for proposal (RFP) once a particular service decides on buying a weapons system. It also says vendors would be informed in advance before an RFP is issued to give them adequate lead time to prepare their responses.
The methodology of conducting field trials once the RFPs are processed would also be intimated to the vendors in advance and the results of the tests, as also the reasons for disqualifying a particular piece of equipment would also be conveyed to the manufacturers.
The loopholes, however, outweigh these provisions as they can affect the entire procurement procedure.
Take, for instance, the fast track procedure that is confined to hardware that is widely in use worldwide and is purportedly meant to cut down the lead-time involved in the induction of major weapons systems.
'The items involved should preferably be such which are already in service or have been tried and evaluated or are available widely in the world or in service in defence forces or in the indigenous market for ready procurement so that the time required for evaluation is minimised,' DPP-2008 says.
'While formulating the operational requirements (of the armed forces), it would be kept in mind that the required equipment is widely available in the world market or in service in foreign defence forces/indigenous market,' the document added.
Indian defence attaches or ambassadors would confirm the information furnished by the vendors and confirm the item was 'In Service in Foreign Defence Forces'.
What this means is that the entire evaluation process would be done away with, or at best minimised, on the plea that a particular platform had already proved its worth.
Even worse, purchases via the fast track route would be on a limited tender basis, leaving immense scope for subjectivity on the part of the service chief recommending a particular piece of equipment.
The fast track procedure contains a caveat: the cabinet committee on security would have to be kept informed of all deals worth Rs.2-4 billion, while an oversight committee would examine all deals over Rs.3 billion.
Subject to final clearance from the defence ministry, the concerned service chief can sanction deals below Rs.3 billion.
What this means is a big ticket deal like that for purchasing 197 helicopters for the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force could be fast-tracked by bringing down the numbers to the monetary level set - and then purchasing the others on the repeat order route.
DPP-2008 lays down that repeat orders for equipment already in the inventory can be placed without inviting fresh bids from the manufacturer.
For repeat orders, 'the concerned Acquisition Manager would invite the vendor for negotiations for additional quantities. The CNC (Contract Negotiating Committee) would conclude the negotiations, preferably at the same price and terms and conditions', DPP-2008 says.
This provision, however, leaves adequate elbowroom for subjectivity on the part of a service chief who has his eye on a particular piece of hardware.
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You ask retired defence service personnel, from officers down to the jawans. They will readily tell you how much corruption takes place and in what ways, EVEN IN REGARD TO MILITARY RATIONS (FOOD). Some Jawans say that some top generals and ministers could be shot dead if they got half a chance to do so, in this sham of republic of ours.
The New defence purchase policy, announced recently, is nothing but ratifing the corruption to an official routine. the Bofors kings (the Congress party) cannot be faulted as this sort of corruption is in their blood since Mrs.Gandhi's period, in the Nagarwala murder case itself. As rightly advised by the father of the nation, Mahatma, the Congress party should be dismantled.
Loopholes, even when detected as such, are left as they were in the original either deliberately by interested layers in the hierarchy right from administration to ministers, or what is less probable, out of carelessness. The results, of course, are always the same: there could be corruption, the level of corruption being less when the purchase is finished at lower levels, and higher, even astronomical, that shd. be expressed only as a percent of GNP,at ministerial level. Comparative international studies on corruption have put India rather high on corruption level, that is low public morality,and the experts who prepared them say corruption is universal. But, warily enough in official reports, they do not point out that India and so many other countries harbouring too many millions below poverty line can at any time revolut uncontrollably and unleash a blood sea due to the corruption of politicians and administration who ate public money misusing the privileges as trusted public figures.
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