IIndia has made various efforts since independence to achieve self-reliance in defense requirements but its achievements have been limited.
The pursuit of self-reliance has to go hand in hand with scientific discoveries and their use for military purposes. Contemporaryly, self-reliance has been re-christened as Aatmanirbharta, and is included in a larger national agenda that involves R&D institutions, academia, industries, start-ups, individual innovators and users. In political and strategic terms, this ecosystem approach aims to protect and preserve India’s ability to take independent policy decisions in an increasingly volatile and chaotic global environment.
In the field of defence, several policy decisions have been taken to promote self-reliance and therefore the intention of the government cannot be doubted.
But the pertinent question is whether these steps will be able to achieve the lofty goal of self-reliance. Here I analyze two policy initiatives—the Import Sanctions List, and the Innovations for Defense Excellence (IDEX) scheme—before touching on the ideas of the defense budget.
exaggeration of progress
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) ban on the import of sub-systems, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components is expected to boost the development of indigenous capability. So far, the MoD has notified four positive indigenous list (PIL) which also specifies the time-frame for the sanctions. 351, 107, 780 and 928 items were banned in these lists issued between August 2020 and May 2023. latest One contained critical parts and components of low value.
MoD website, called creationProvides information on lists and explains processes and procedures to interested parties. The details on indigenization achieved for the first three lists suggest a fair amount of progress and the Navy has achieved the most. But the devil lies in the details and with the inclusion of low-value spares and components, in-depth analysis will be needed to statistically identify the actual progress of indigenization, a washer/bolt being the equivalent of a marine X-band. radar. Such ambiguity may distort the reality of indigenization achieved and artificially inflate progress in self-reliance.
The claims of achievement can only be viewed analytically when the latest figures for India’s arms imports are viewed and expressed relatively in terms of previous years. Currently these figures are not reflected Claims.
Claims are also made of boosting arms exports, but this too hides the reality that when one starts from a low base, the suggestion of growth is largely misleading. While gross exaggeration of achievements remains the norm, some schemes are facing a paradox of processes and procedures. This has been the bane of the Defense Acquisition System. One such scheme is iDEX.
Read also: India’s volume boom in defense exports is high on rhetoric and low on substance
exploit iDEX scheme
idex Introduced as a flagpole scheme that can leverage talent and innovative potential from institutions and individuals outside the government. It seeks to engage MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia, and provide them grants/funds and other support to create good potential work for the future needs of Indian Defense and Aerospace.
There are three different categories of this scheme the challenges-Disk, Prime and Open.
One of the concerns pertains to the protection of proprietary rights of the technologies developed/implemented. Representatives of Defense Public Sector Undertakings such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) sit on review committees and collect information from vendors on products to be developed by the latter themselves or by larger may be used. corporate entity. Some smaller institutions may sacrifice their long term interest as the Rs 1.5 crore offered in the scheme is attractive. But this does not take away its exploitative nature.
The second concern arises from the ‘march in clause’ in the contract. This clause stipulates that the MoD can completely take over production and use on grounds of national security. However, the Ministry will be liable to pay the acquisition cost/license fee/royalty. For start-ups, this clause is perceived as exploitative, as the MoD can negotiate the terms of the acquisition from an advantageous position.
The consequences of such exploitation are that they may fail to harness the full potential that lies outside the government and undermine the main objective of IDEX. Considering the budget allocated for the scheme for a period of five years, entities that navigate procedural hurdles faster will be benefited, unlike individuals and smaller entities, who will certainly have to compete for funds between Rs 66 and Rs 66 on a limited basis. It would be difficult to do. 148 crores per annum.
process on delivery
Looking at the pattern of defense budget allocation, it appears that the Defense Ministry is trying to reallocate meager resources under new and different heads to give the impression of efforts being made in achieving self-reliance. But to expect that innovation and capacity development will actually happen with the amount of money available is self-deception. Furthermore, subjecting institutions to frequent audits during development and expecting innovation to flourish without acknowledging failures is likely to kill creative thinking, which is counter-productive.
While the good intentions of the government cannot be doubted, it seems that legacy mindset and management practices continue to dominate. Many of the purported achievements are largely exaggerated. The need here is to change the fundamental approach of the research, development, acquisition and production system of India’s defense sector, which is still in the direction of self-reliance by projecting a false narrative to mitigate its propensity to prioritize process over delivery. makes significant progress. has been achieved.
Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Prakash Menon (Retd.) is the Director of the Strategic Studies Program at the Takshashila Institute; Former Military Advisor, National Security Council Secretariat. He tweeted @prakashmenon51. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)