NEW DELHI – The Indian government cannot compel the armed forces to buyindigenous weapons, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesdayafter she inaugurated a defence exhibition. Her comments came in backdropof the Indian Military reluctance to buy local arms due superior technologyavailable with Pakistan.
On being asked about the huge export-import gap in the defence sector of acountry that does not even figure among the top 25 exporters of arms andreluctance of its forces to buy locally manufactured weapon systems, theminister said she could only tell the armed forces to procure fromindigenous companies “as much as possible”.
Sitharaman said she could not cross a “thin line” to impinge on the freedomof the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force or the Indian Navy “to make theirown decisions” as per their operational requirements. “I can’t imagineprevailing upon them. We will only want them to give space to localmanufacturers and buy indigenous products.”
The Army had told a Parliamentary Standing Committee that it was reelingunder severe fund crunch and struggling to even make emergency procurementswhen there was a real possibility of a two-front war and both China as wellas Pakistan were carrying out modernisation of their defence forces in“full swing”.
The report of the committee was tabled in Parliament last month. “Theparliamentary standing committee has said lot more. I wish you had read theentire report of the committee. The standing committee report has said somany other things as well,” Sitharaman said.
The government allocated Rs 76,765 crore less to the Army, Navy and AirForce in the defence budget than what they had sought to purchase newweapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware, according toofficial figures placed in Parliament last month.
The three forces had demanded Rs 1.60 lakh crore as capital outlay but weregranted Rs 83,434 crore for the year 2018-19. Referring to criticism ofdelays in procurement of bullet proof jackets for the armed forces,Sitharaman said it is not like “over the counter buying of things” and thegovernment was putting sincere efforts to meet demands of the armed forces.
The four-day DefExpo India, whose theme is “Emerging Defence ManufacturingHub, held at Thiruvidanthai off the East Coast Road near hear, is the 10thin the biennial exercise aimed at establishing Brand India and highlightingthe manufacturing capabilities of the country’s public and private sectors.Over 650 exhibitors, including some 520 Indian companies, are participatingin the event.
The defence exhibition that targets India’s futuristic goal of building aself-sufficient domestic arms industry — a key facet of Prime Minister NarendraModi link>’s “Make in India”slogan — comes even as the armed forces of India facing multiple securitythreats continue to be saddled with sub-optimal weapon systems.