As we enter 2021, India’s defence establishment must be hoping that the new decade will be better than the one gone by. In terms of new acquisitions and modernisation, the last decade was a dampener for the armed forces.
India’s biggest letdown in defence in the last decade was the lack of political leadership.
Altogether, the defence minister’s chair underwent six rotation. There is no doubt that in the scheme of things, the defence ministry, which is part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), is seen as less powerful and appealing than the home, finance and external affairs ministries.
The Antony era
The longest political stability in the defence ministry came during the UPA government when A.K. Antony was in charge – from October 2006 to May 2014.
Though regarded as ‘Mr Clean’, Antony’s long tenure saw scams, crises, and an overall sense of sluggishness. Under his leadership, the defence ministry had come to a standstill with decision-making crawling at an abysmally slow pace.
When Antony left the ministry in 2014, the armed forces were still heavily dependent on systems that were acquired in the 1980s and earlier. Major acquisition projects such as combat helicopters, new submarines, fighter aircraft and howitzers, pending even before the beginning of his tenure, remained in limbo.
The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), integration of the three armed forces and jointness remained just a dream under his tenure.
The only major success of Antony’s ministry was the signing of the deal for transport aircraft – C 17 and C 130J – from the US. But the fighting arms remained in a state of flux.
Antony’s political weight in the UPA as Sonia Gandhi’s confidante was huge but he never brought that to the ministry to push ahead with modernisation. His desire to remain ‘Mr Clean’ meant that no major decisions were taken even as arms dealers and middlemen continued to enjoyed considerable clout in the ministry.
Also read: Indian military won’t reform by itself. But Parliament’s diluted role is a bigger concern
Jaitley to Parrikar to Jaitley
When the Narendra Modi government came in 2014, it was sincerely hoped that the defence modernisation will get the required push.
Arun Jaitley was sworn in as the defence minister on 26 May 2014 but this was a dual charge because he was also made the finance minister, which seemingly became his primary job.
In just six months, Jaitley paved the way for Manohar Parrikar, chief minister of Goa at the time, to take over as the defence minister on 9 November. With an IIT background and a thinking mind, Parrikar brought in a fresh infusion of energy into the defence.
Not knowing the dynamics of the national capital was an impediment for Parrikar but then again, he was never the typical Delhi politician anyway.
As I wrote in 2019, Parrikar used to lament about the bureaucratic hold within the ministry, and often took officials head-on, assuming personal responsibility for many decisions.
It was under his leadership that the ball was set rolling on a number of key reforms, including the creation of the post of CDS, integration of the armed forces, induction of Tejas fighter aircraft, and the contract for attack helicopters among others.
But just as he had begun to settle in, Parrikar was sent back to Goa as the chief minister due to the political instability in the state in March 2017.
But Parrikar anyway wanted to return to Goa. Everyone in the defence circles knew he was going back with joy, relief and guilt, besides a hint of despair.
One big setback for him was his inability to clear some of the reforms that he wanted to bring about in the defence ministry. Even though he was part of the CCS, he never carried the required punching weight in the Modi government compared to Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley or National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
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Missed chances
Upon Parrikar’s departure, Arun Jaitley was brought back to the defence ministry to hold the dual charge.
Jaitley’s tenure until 3 September 2017 meant that major reforms had come to a standstill since his focus was the finance ministry.
It was in September 2017 that the ministry again got a full-time head in Nirmala Sitharaman, who was considered a lightweight in the pecking order.
As reported in 2019, Sitharaman’s tenure in the defence ministry was not an easy one because she succeeded Parrikar, who had won the confidence of both the industry and the armed forces.
She could never click with the armed forces or the industry and seemingly lacked the understanding of the intricacies of the defence ministry and its dynamics.
The Rafale controversy tested her knowledge and subject expertise, and ensured that she was in the line of fire for a large part of her tenure.
Also read: Ordnance factories are now a ‘hurdle’ for armed forces. Corporatisation is the way out
Some reprieve
It was only with the induction of Rajnath Singh in 2019 that the defence ministry once again had a full-time minister with the political weight to carry out reforms.
Singh, who had led the modernisation of the central armed police forces (CAPFs) as the home minister in a splendid manner, knows that defence is a different ball game.
I say ‘splendid manner’ because the CAPF personnel are better equipped with arms and ammunition than an infantry soldier in the Army, who still relies on basic bullet-proof jackets and an INSAS rifle, which is a joke in modern warfare.
It is hoped that Rajnath Singh would be able to handhold the three Services in the next few years, which will set the foundation for the reorganisation of the armed forces into a modern and well-equipped fighting force in the coming decade.
There are a lot of pending proposals, which will need deft handling by the defence minister in a time-bound manner.
India is set to introduce the theatre commands soon, which will change the way our armed forces function.
A multi-billion-dollar modernisation process is currently underway, and it involves the induction of new fighters, submarines, aircraft carriers, mid-air refuellers, tanks, armed UAVs, howitzers, assault rifles, helicopters.
All of this would need someone strong and smart at the helm of affairs in the defence ministry. Let’s hope that the Modi government will deliver rather than continue with the piecemeal approach.
Views are personal.
Glad you highlighted the hopeless small arms like INSAS rifle a jawan has to carry. Till recently para military units were still clutching on to .303 rifles — museum pieces from the 19th century!! No armoured carriers too. Probably the worst armed police or military anywhere in the world.
Boils down to elite brahiminical contempt for the foot soldier. If they become cannon fodder or go down in land mine blasts, so be it.
Hope current defence minister stems this horrid thinking of our elite, bureaucrats and ministers.
An expert on defense thinks the defense reforms and spending has to be a priority, just as the experts in health, education and banking. Do not know by having a heavy weight Minister in defense or health or education or banking would be justice over all ? Within the limited resources best needs to be achieved.
Saint Anthony must be given the credit for not allowing commissions freely at the cost of modernization. Looking at the reports of acquisions over the past few years the pace ahs picked up besides the Indianisation effort.
It would be clearer if the decades are specified. Is there or is there not a change?
It is refreshing to see a Defence correspondent batting for the Defence of the Nation. The primary problem is that we never had it this way in the past. As is the norm in democracies the “say” of the uniformed lot did not matter in the larger scheme of Defending the sovereignty, so thought our political leadership. Defence was never a serious matter for Independent India for decades. Events since Independence bear testimony of this apathy and needs no elaboration. Revisiting the past is of little consequence.
Matters of National security should have been a priority. India is the only country in the world with a very long nebulous land border across difficult terrains with at least two belligerent adversaries with intentions of expansionism, besides long maritime borders across oceans and seas. But alas, there was (is there?) never an apex organization with special capabilities to lay down a concrete Defence strategy. An MOD full of generalists (unlike the pentagon etc., MOD does not have uniformed soldiers as part of the organisation) were supposed to address this issue. They comprehensively failed to do that. A CDS has now been instituted with no say in strategies and policies of National security except for some administrative issues.
The macro level issues have to be addressed before the procedural issues mentioned in this article. A couple three of those issues (there are many) could be:
1. Make posts in MOD interoperable between the bureaucrats and the soldier.
2. Establish a pan India culture, to include Universities, DRDO and industry for R&D of technologies. For example if we had a robust R&D on metallurgy (most important for weapons, ships and aircrafts) we could have made our own guns etc.. long back.
3. A robust Defence industry is mandatory for a country like India for self sufficiency in defence and uplift the economy simultaneously
The issues are many…
At least now, one gets a feeling that there is an awakening.
“Views are personal”
The government must take views of defence personal , civilian defence experts including journalist which will bring together a holistic view of defence modernisation .
This might seem controversial but defence equipment agents duly registered with government might a good start.
I would like SNEHESH ALEX PHILLIP to form a website wherein defence journalist with access to multiple decision makers can discuss amongst themselves in public forum to better guide defence acquisition policies
Agreed that Antony wasn’t all that useful, but I disagree that this govt is better, Congress has done more during its tenure and the projects that were under construction in their tenure are being inducted right now.
BJP has purchased 36 Rafales, 24 MH-60R, 100 M777 , vajra howitzers, S-400 triumf, 140000 Sig Sauer rifles, 7 Nilgiri class frigates, 4 Talwar class frigates have done much less and won’t be able to do anything more bcos it ruined the economy and has no money. In Feb 2020 one of the lowest def budgets since 1962 was given.
Before 2014 ,the below projects Construction was started or completed (apart from the 11 C-17s, 11 C-130js mentioned by you) : 3 Kolkata class destroyers, 4 vishakapatnam class destroyers, 3 Talwar class frigates, Vikramaditya and Vikrant aircraft carriers, 45 Mig-29K fighter jets, 8 P8i submarine hunting aircrafts, 4 kamorta class corvettes, 4 Saryu class NOPVs, 6 scorpene submarines, 4 Arihant class SSBNs, 2 Deepak class fleet tankers, INS Jalashwa LPD, 1 Akula class submarine leased.
BJP is worst in everything including Defence!
Please continue to highlight such issues. The public needs to hold the government accountable on execution. While the UPA government was woefully inadequate, the current NDA government has made many blunders even though it is trying to improve things in the defence ministry. Please keep up the pressure and highlight such issues.