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CUTTING FOREIGN BUYING FOR ATMANIRBHARTA FINE, BUT THESE POLICY CHANGES NEEDED FIRST
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 1/21/2022 3:35:16 PM
New Delhi,Jan 20 In the thick of the border tensions with China in mid-2020, India went ahead with this major procurement while gearing up for a long haul through many icy winters of eastern Ladakh. Under the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) —a pact between India and the United States—the country bought hundreds of sets of extreme cold winter clothing from the US for its troops, who were steadily getting deployed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in tens of thousands. The rushed, emergency procurement in the aftermath of the bitter Galwan Valley clashes happened because no domestic vendor was manufacturing these clothing systems back home—even as they have been a critical gear of the Indian troops at the Siachen glacier for over three decades—possibly due to lack of adequate research and development, and orders. Cut to December 2021. About three months ahead of the glitzy Def- Expo 2022—India’s major flagship defence event to be held in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar in March—the defence ministry ordered a major review of all its Buy (global) procurements. Aimed at striking off the list all those that seemed to be not of immediate operational necessity, the order explicitly stated that there would be no import of defence equipment “going forward”. This suddenness of the directive left much of the defence establishment in a tizzy. A mad rush ensued to assess which of the planned foreign procurements could stay back on the list. A lot of chatter is still underway over the pros and cons of the move. I do feel it will go some way in creating a fresh momentum towards the goal of Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) –something that, in my opinion, India’s private defence industry should immediately latch on to. But there are doubts which beg clarity before a chopping spree starts for foreign procurements. For instance, how aligned is India’s goal towards Atmanirbharta with the country’s military objectives? What are the structural changes needed for the growth and sustenance of an indigenous defence ecosystem?