 |
|
No middlemen to be allowed in defence deals: Pranab New Delhi, October 24 The reiteration from the government came in the backdrop of India getting ready to negotiate mega defence deals running into billions of dollars, including fighter aircraft for the IAF. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, before taking over the charge of Foreign Minister, said here, "there is a ban in force on middlemen," and that as per the norms laid out by the new arms procurement policy, all weapon sellers would have to sign integrity pacts, binding them not to use middlemen in deals. Though middlemen are banned in weapons deals, Mr Mukherjee said the ban would not be applicable to duly registered arms agents. The government would also soon announce new procedures to make it easier and mandatory for all arms agents to register themselves with not only the Defence Ministry, but also Reserve Bank. The minister announced this while speaking at a FICCI-sponsored seminar on `Public-Private partnership in Defence procurements,' here. Mr Mukherjee again pointed out that though registration of arms agents had been legalised by the earlier government there were hardly any takers. "Only a handful of firms had sought registration," he said while adding that the UPA Government was in process of streamlining procedures, so that all arms agents got registered. With the recent controversy over the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) objecting to the purchase of the Barak missiles when the indigenous missile were not ready, the minister again defended the country’s premier defence research organisation. While urging the nation to have patience and faith in country's defence scientists, he said, "In indigenous arms platforms projects, you can't expect made-to-order systems. Development of critical technologies for missiles, aircraft and tanks have a gestation period". "Time and costs overruns in such projects have to be taken into stride," he said. "India has in the past also been adversely impacted by such policies of supplier nations", Mr Mukherjee said emphasising that the country's goal should be to strive for maximum self-sufficiency. Pointing out to the audience comprising Industry captains and Chief Executive Officers that modernisation drive in the armed forces was in full swing, the minister said time had come for private sector to play a more meaningful role in the country's defence. He said capital expenditure in defence had been increased to Rs 37,458 crores in 2006-07 from Rs 12,384 crores in 2000-01 and this represented a boost of almost 202 per cent. The minister also outlined the new steps and initiatives taken by the government to allow the Indian industry a level playing field. He said under the new Low Technology Mature Systems categorized as "buy Indian" would have a minimum of 50 per cent indigenous content that would provide the local industry opportunities to even use existing level of technology to achieve the mandatory 50 per cent indigenous content. Similarly, he said the category of 'High technology complex systems" would also provide the domestic industry to take its rightful share by private-public participation.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
