Stany Bela

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Sep 26: Scams in defence ministry are not a new thing for India and Indian politics. It started the very next year of its independence. Some scams are investigated and closed. Some are still under investigation and political parties are using it for their political gain.

The first defence scam came into light in 1948, the very next year of Independence. Indian government signed to purchase Jeeps for its army from an England based company. It was the deal to purchase 200 Jeeps worth Rs 80 lacs. But violating the deal conditions the British company only delivered 155 Jeeps. But in 1955 the case was closed.

Between 80s and 90s the Bofors scam shook the nation. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was at the centre of this scam. As per scam, Rs 64 crore was paid to Ottavio Quattrocchi a middleman and close aide of Rajiv Gandhi’s family to facilitate the deal for the 155mm howitzers from the Swedish firm Bofors. The allegations were first made by the Swedish radio. The deal for 400 Bofors guns was worth $1.3 billion. This scam still haunts the Congress party and its leaders, as time and again the opposition brings up the issue.

In 1999, sting operation by Thehelka and the coffin case, both related to Defence Ministry made much noise in political surroundings. Tehelka.com, an online news portal, by its sting operation, revealed army officers and political leaders taking bribes during arms deals.

Coffin case, related to Kargil war, highlighted corruption during purchase of coffins which were used to send the bodies of martyrs to their families. The CBI had registered a case against a US contractor and some senior Army officers. The then Defence minister George Fernandes was also accused of being involved in the case.

In 2006, Barak Missile scam became a debating issue in political and defence circles. Former treasurer of the Samata Party RK Jain was arrested in the case. According to the CBI, the missile system was purchased at a much higher price than that initially quoted price by Israel.

Later in 2012, former army chief general VK Singh alleged that he was offered Rs 14 crore as bribe to clear the purchase of Tata trucks. Questions were also raised about the quality of the trucks.

Now once again Indian Defence Ministry and government is under pressure to clarify on a new controversial defence deal which India signed during an inter-governmental agreement with France, dubbed as "Rafale deal", in which India will pay about Rs. 58,000 crore for 36 off-the-shelf Dassault Rafale twin-engine fighters.

The root of Rafale Deal

The announcement on Rafale Deal was made by Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister in his first ever France visit. This is the base of the entire controversy. On April 10, 2015 he revealed that India will purchase 36 fighter jets from French Company Dassault Aviation.

Rafale is a fighter jet and it capable to carry latest type of war weapons built by Dassault Aviation of France. The company started to build these types of war planes in 80s. In 2001 Dassault Aviation become a part of French Air Force. Apart from France air force and navy, Qatar and Egypt are also using Rafale fighters for their defence purposes.

As per Rafale deal, India will purchase Rafale fighter which has the speed of 1912 kilometres per hour. It has 3 drop tanks and in a single flight it can cover 3700 kilometres. At a time it can carry air to air, air to ground, air to surface missiles. It has space to include bombs like ‘Astra Sudarshan’, A.E.S.A Radar and Derby Missile (manufactured by Israel). Air force can use it for operation both day and night.

Why Rafale ?

From past many years army is demanding to replace the older jet fighter flights. Facilitating this demand in 2012, UPA government decided to buy new Rafale war flights from France. After consultation from army and its various wings, the second UPA government came closer to the deal of purchasing 126 Rafale flights from Dassault Aviation. But it did not succeed in signing the deal.

Agreement at the time of UPA government

The basic price of the single flight is Rs 526 crore. It is excluding the maintenance, war equipment, and the additional technology which was demanded by Indian Air Force. Indian government would purchase 18 flights and rest 108 will manufacture at Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) Bengaluru plant with the technical help of Dassault Aviation.

NDA government and revised Agreement

The basic price increased from Rs 526 to Rs 670 crore. The total price, which is full options, and entire technical assistance is Rs 1611 crore. For total 36 flights government should pay Rs 58,000 crore. As per deal, Indian government has given 15 percent of amount as advance.

Allegations

For 36 fighter jets government has agreed to pay the amount which is 3 times more than the basic price. Government also dropped HAL from the deal and included private firm Reliance Defence which came to existence just 12 days before the announcement. Modi did the announcement about deal on April 10, 2015. Reliance Defence came to existence on March 28, 2015. Opposition alleged that Modi showed special interest to include Reliance Defence in deal and recommended to drop HAL.

Prime Minister violated the procedures to defence policies. As per procedures, Prime Minister should chair meeting of defence acquisitions council (DAC) which includes all three army heads and ministry. Without discussing in a meeting, he announced the deal during his France visit.

Explanation from government

In previous deal there was no agreement on exchanging the technology of manufacturing the war flights. The new price is decided based on some additional and new features. Same time for the new price, Safran (Flight Engine manufacturers) Thals (Electrical system designers), the co manufactures of Dassault, will hand over their manufacturing technology to India.

Reliance Defence is included by Dassault directly. Indian government never suggested Reliance nor dropped HAL. During his Paris visit Prime Minister only expressed Indian government’s desire. The proceeding completed after one year of his France visit.

HAL does not have capacity to manufacture the fighter jets and they failed to give guarantee regarding this. In the term of UPA itself they dropped out from deal.

Latest controversy

Last week former French President Francois Hollande was quoted in an article by a French website as claiming that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal. This kicked up a new controversy and Indian opposition took it up like a new weapon against the government. Understanding the depth of controversy, Government of France denied the claims made by Hollande about the Rafale deal. Taking note of the criticism , France government said that the secrecy pact applies to the 2016 Rafale deal.

But still a question remains if HAL does not have enough experience for manufacturing the fighter jets then how can Reliance Defence which is still considered as an infant in the industry match up? No one has the answer now. This is not the only question in Rafale deal anyway. There are too many.