The Hindu : National : Move to involve watchdog agencies in arms procurement

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Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004

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National

Move to involve watchdog agencies in arms procurement

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 7. To bring in more transparency into arms purchases, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has suggested the involvement of country's watchdog organisations such as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in arms procurement.

The Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said: "What the Prime Minister has suggested... I am going to institutionalise arrangements by bringing in bodies such as the CAG and the CVC to vet procurement. This is a proposal." The Government was reconstituting the procurement boards to give representation to watchdog organisations so that the process was made faster and more transparent.

The National Democratic Alliance Government had introduced a new system of procurement on the recommendations of the committee that investigated the Kargil conflict. These recommendations were approved by a Group of Ministers. An organisation, with a Defence Acquisition Council, headed by the Defence Minister, three services and the Ministry's procurement boards, was set up.

Mr. Mukherjee said the new system contained a clause for its review after two years and the present Government proposed to remove the bottlenecks and make the process more transparent. He said the involvement of the CAG and the CVC would reduce the time spent on getting arms deals vetted by these organisations.

To a question, he said the Government was reviewing some of the high-profile deals and proposals running into billions of dollars entered into by the previous government. In this process they had realised that the movement of sensitive files in the Ministry had been very slow. Apparently,the officials had seemed a bit wary about processing the deals.

Mr. Mukherjee said he had not so far found "any substantial aberration" in the purchases made by the NDA Government. Defence deals with the United States were a bit slow as some post-Pokhran sanctions were still in vogue.

Private sector's role

The Minister disclosed that a high-level committee, headed by Vijay Kelkar, had been set up to invite wider private sector participation in the defence industry. Involvement of the private sector was part of the moves for modernisation and indigenisation of the defence industry, to which the United Progressive Alliance Government was committed. He said private sector participation was being sought as many international armament majors were reluctant to do business with the Government. It would be easier for them to deal as one company with another, as was the system prevalent in the West. Mr. Mukherjee said the thrust of the Government was on technology transfers. "We want to do bulk armament platform purchases and in lieu get transfer of technology and licences for local manufacture." — PTI

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