Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday hit out at the Opposition saying that India’s defence procurement during the UPA-led government from 2004-2014 was zero.
“For people, who are worried about the basic essentials for Defence, for soldiers, for their guns, for their bulletproof jackets, for the bullets, for the carbines and even for fighter aircraft, I want to tell that 10 years of Indian Defence history recorded nil purchases. Sir, 10 years were lost. After 2014, rapidly, we had to buy from pin to aircraft, everything,” Minister Sitharaman said during a debate on supplementary spending for the current fiscal in the Rajya Sabha.
In the 2022-23 Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Tuesday that in FY22-23, 68 per cent of the capital expenditure budget for the defence sector will be reserved for domestic procurement to boost the Indian defence manufacturing sector.
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Recently, the Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence has expressed concern over the fall in the number of squadrons of the country’s Air Force, which is much below the sanctioned limit of 42.
The Committee said that the current strength of the Air Force, which is at 30, will further go down once the old jets are phased out.
The Committee has advised that there should not be any compromise in acquiring the “firepower and technology” to boost up the country's offensive and defensive aerial capacities.
The committee also noted that the Air Force must have “two-front” deterrence capacities given the threat of aggressive posture on both sides in the Indian neighborhood (hinting at China and Pakistan).
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Last year in February, the Union Cabinet headed by PM Modi gave a green signal to the IAF’s 83 LCA-MK-1A order worth ₹48000 crores which was awarded to HAL.
Prior to the clearance, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated LCA’s second plant in Bengaluru. This move has been seen as a major fillip to the government’s objective to produce cutting-edge indigenous defence technology in a mission towards self-reliance.
In 2016, India had signed an agreement with the French Government and Dassault Aviation for the acquisition of 36 Rafale aircrafts in a deal worth INR 59000 crore.
