IANS/New Delhi
Amid allegations of bribery, Defence Minister A K Antony yesterday asked the army to streamline its purchase process in a manner that accountability can be fixed in the event of slippages.This was conveyed by Antony to the army brass led by its chief Gen V K Singh at a meeting to finalise the army’s capital acquisition proposals.This is the first time Antony and Gen Singh came face-to-face since the acrimony over the army chief’s allegation of a bribe offer made to him by a retired officer and the leak of a secret letter from him to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on gaps in defence preparedness.The meeting was in continuation of earlier review meetings held in September last year and January.“At the meeting, Antony directed the army to streamline its acquisition process in such a manner that accountability can be fixed in case of any slippages,” a defence ministry spokesperson said.Antony also asked officials of the defence ministry and the army to examine the possibility of compressing the time taken for technical evaluations and trials.It is assessed that the services and the defence ministry take about seven years for completing the procurement processes of any major equipment.The minister favoured delegation of more financial powers to the service headquarters if it can lead to speedier acquisition of equipment, platforms and systems for the services.At present, the services vice chiefs can approve defence contracts worth Rs500mn or less. The other competent financial authority for defence acquisition are the defence secretary for deals worth Rs750mn, defence minister Rs5bn, defence ministry in concurrence with the finance minister for Rs10bn, and the cabinet committee on security (CCS) above that.Among those attending the the meeting were Defence Secretary Sashi Kant Sharma, Director General (Acquisition) Vivek Rae and senior army officials.Among the major army acquisitions that are pending are the Rs200bn (over $4bn) worth of artillery guns to replace the ageing inventory and air defence weapons.Gen Singh had in his latest letter to the prime minister written in March pointed out that the army had major gaps in its air defence, artillery, night vision capabilities and infantry.In an unrelated event, the army chief had given an interview to the media in which he claimed that a retired lieutenant general had offered him a bribe of Rs140mn for approving a contract for 600 trucks for the army.Both developments had caused a major uproar in parliament. Some political parties wanted the army chief to be sacked. The Intelligence Bureau has been asked to find out who leaked the letter from the army chief to the prime minister.l Against the backdrop of India emerging as the world’s largest importer of arms, an industry lobby and a global consultancy have recommended the setting up of a National Defence Manufacturing Commission (NDMC) under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to focus on building a domestic industrial base to make the nation self-reliant in the sector.The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) study also proposes that the government allow 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) in select cases and revive the concept of defence industry champions or Raksha Udyog Ratnas (RURs) to encourage private participation in the defence sector.Releasing the study, CII national defence council chairman and HCL founder Ajai Chowdhary drew parallels to the Atomic Energy Commission and the Space Commission to seek the setting up of the NDMC so that the PMO could directly monitor India’s defence manufacturing sector.“RURs should be brought back in full form,” Chowdharay said.A Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report in March had listed India as the top defence importer between 2007 and 2011. India imports 70% of its defence needs from the global market and its indigenous content is about 30%.