Letters: Achieving self-sufficiency

This refers to the report "New procurement policy to boost India's self-reliance in arms" (April 20). The government's initiative to encourage domestic manufacturers to meet the country's defence needs is in the right direction. Even if manufacturing defence equipment within the country is more expensive than importing, the cost should not be a determining factor; security should be the top priority. At the same time, India's excessive dependence on imported communications technology needs attention. Sixty per cent of India's telecom hardware is imported from China. Huawei, China's largest telecom equipment maker, is under increasing scrutiny across the world for its close links with the Chinese government. A recent US report alleged that the company has close links to the Chinese military, linking it to an elite cyber-warfare unit with the People's Liberation Army. In fact, the company has announced that it would quit the US given its sales effort has been foiled owing to concerns over security. In Australia, Huawei has been excluded from bidding to supply the lucrative national fibre network. A similar move is under consideration by Canada. Global Times, China's English newspaper, recently scoffed at India's excessive dependence on foreign suppliers in its arms procurement. It said: "But for how long can borrowed weaponry lead to genuine security?" India surely needs to learn from such comments.

H N Ramakrishna Bangalore

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