By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd) Former Director General of Information Systems, Indian Army

LCA Tejas

Nishant

MBT Arjun

Media recently ran a headline titled ‘The ministry of defence is a bad organization with no accountability’: Gen V P Malik’, publishing an interview with the former Army Chief. Replying to questions raised by the reporter, the General made the following points:

1. We have not been able to develop technology and he had told the parliamentary committee that we are lagging behind on the aspect of self-reliance;

2. Importing 70% of our sophisticated weapons systems from abroad gives leverage to those countries;

3. During Kargil Conflict we were short of spares for Bofors guns and parts for naval helicopters and without proper gun locating radars and surveillance devices along the LoC;

4. There still is little awareness towards filling technology gap in Armed Forces and procurement is still lagging albeit pursuit of Make in India is good beginning;

5. DRDO has not been able to meet military requirements and is unaccountable;

6. DRDO must focus on core issues interacting with national resource of technical expertise and must meet deadlines rather than infinite extension, one example being Arjun Tank development taking 25 years;

7. Lifespan of weapon systems from 25-30 years has come down to 10-15 years due fast changing technology but the DRDO-DPSUs-OF are quite happy not to change and the military is forced to buy from them;

8. MoD is a bad organization with zero accountability and responsible for the defunct state of DRDO;

9. DPSUs too need to be taken out of MoD since joint secretary of MoD gets privileges from them, and;

10. CAG audit is like a CA but he does not check what is the level of military capability.

While the General has stated the obvious, public comments on the news item are interesting, two of them noteworthy. One of them reads “Clearly even today we stand in the same (or maybe worse) position with respect to China as in 1962.” That this very comment was given in an article by a former ambassador when in 2013 a letter from the then Army Chief, Gen VK Singh to PM Manmohan Singh was leaked to the media combined the years of non-performance by AK Anthony as defence Minister is significant. The second comment in context of the present media report reads “Why he is raising the issue now? Was it not his responsibility as chief of army staff to raise his concern when he was serving the nation...”. Latter is a category that has little knowledge or is writing on behalf of the mafia. This category sits mum when letter as mentioned above gets exposed, even unaware that successive Service Chiefs and Chairman COSC wrote similar letters to PMs in the past besides the hierarchy is briefed about criticalities during periodic Army Commanders and Combined Commanders Conferences, aside from monthly reports to the effect. They are grossly unaware of military regulations that prohibit going public while serving. When Gen VP Malik, then Army Chief stated during Kargil Conflict “We will fight with what we have”, the purport should have been crystal clear other than to the naďve.

The fact is that the rot in MoD started from Independence itself with Nehru’s distaste for the military, erstwhile ICS (that looked down upon the military from British era) forming the bureaucracy of MoD in avatar of IAS, and above all the despicably corrupt and inefficient Defence Minister VP Krishna Menon initiating corruption in MoD with the Jeep Scandal and bringing shame on the country in 1962, yet not charged and punished. The fact is that there is deadly virus resident in MoD and in governmental defence-industrial complex that has been feeding on the military and national security. This mafia perforce takes police on board because by virtue of manning intelligence agencies like CBI, IB, R&AW etc latter have full knowledge of what the mafia is doing. So while Nehru wanted to do away with the military, successive governments have let the military be systemically downgraded progressively. That is why the 7th CPC has taken the unprecedented step of equating the military with the CAPF (tell me one other country that has done so) and Chairman Mathur is only commenting on the difference of the IAS and non-IAS. That is why during rule of UPA II, their spokesman says on national TV that “nationalism is a concept not relevant to India”. The joint secretaries of MoD and DoPD are on all boards of the DRDO-DPSUs-OF, not only getting privileges (as Gen Malik says) but obviously in receipt of monthly pay packets.

The fact is MoD is directly and wholly responsible for the pathetic state of the governmental defence-industrial complex and adverse state of military equipping because MoD holds ‘all’ cards of decision making. Defence Secretaries and DGs Acquisition sign contracts making sure cuts have reached intended destinations. Despite scores of massive defence scams, no bureaucrat has been punished or even questioned. On the contrary even those who signed contracts in proven scams are rewarded with subsequent lucrative appointments. Look at the clout of the mafia, in synch with media, hounding Gen VK Singh even as Army Chief, and even now, because he stopped the pipeline going to MoD and beyond to PMO. Look at the canard of an army coup spread by a journalist who lives way beyond his means and remains untouched. Look at the way Defence Minister Gerorge Fernades was charged with the ‘Coffin Gate”, now proved false. That the mafia did not permit integration of HQ IDS with MoD is another example of the power it yields. VP Krishna Menon was rewarded with a road named after him in the Capital. Instead of punishing AK Anthony for bringing the military to 1962 level, UPA II issued a statement glorifying his so called achievements. Coming to current times, why is Lok Sabha satisfied to DRDO’s explanation on the alleged expenditure of Rs 5 crores for making a silver chariot for a temple by saying “Making of Rath was not just a devotional activity but also an interesting technical task” since it was battery operated. DRDO might as well be converted into a battery operated toys factory? Why has the government still not issued the new DPP despite 19 months in office – with billions of dollars worth projects “cleared” without any follow up? Why is the decision of moving Defexpo 2016 to Goa still not reversed despite numerous drawbacks? How is it that the lie of Gen VK Singh appointed to mediate on OROP between government and veterans has been inserted in the media?

The example of Arjun Tank given by Gen Malik is but one example among hundreds, be it Tejas, Nishant, Kaveri, you name it. Why is it that to produce the Dhanush gun DRDO sat on Bofors technology transferred to India for 30 years? Why is the Akash AD system being trumpeted as with “improved maneuverability” when Army is still forced to use it in static role? Why are the DRDO produced night vision devices inferior to their imported counterparts despite 100% IR tubes still being imported? The narrative is endless but what the Prime Minister should acknowledge is that perfunctory changes cannot work anymore where major surgery is required. The need of the hour despite mafia stonewalling is:

1. Replace MoD with a Department of Defence (DoD) manned by military professional either directly under the Prime Minister, with a Secretary of Defence (with military background) overseeing the DoD or a Defence Minister with military background, merging HQ IDS completely with DoD;

2. Appoint a CDS with full operational powers instead of the bureaucratic ploy of having a permanent Chairman COSC sans operational powers:

3. Task DoD to define a National Security Strategy and oversee a Comprehensive Defence Review headed by the CDS - both periodically reviewed;

4. The Secretary of Defence should speedily implement the much needed Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) under directions of the PM;
    
5. Shift DRDO-DPSUs-OF under Ministry of Commerce & Industry;
6. Refocus DRDO completely to R&D including future technologies leapfrogging time. Production and commercialization for export should be done through the private industry and DPSUs,
7. Restructure DRDO-DPSUs-OF completely by bringing in users (military professionals) at levels of conceptualization and decision making, not just advisors, and;
    
8. Adopt the US system of letting the Theatre Commanders (in our case the Service Chiefs) and Commander SOCOM (we have none) present annually to a Congressional Committee (in our case Parliamentary Committee) what existing operational capability their Service has, what budget they seek and if allotted what will be the rise in operatioanal capability – this should be standard procedure before at least one-two months before the annual defence budget is announced. Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi listening?