'Help pvt sector to expand India's defence footprint'

The President’s Address is essentially a report card of the government’s activities in the previous year. It also provides a glimpse of the government’s plans for the ensuing year. The format of this debate is such that both Houses unanimously vote for the Motion of Thanks.

When it comes to the progress made by the nation, there should be no partisan considerations in acknowledging it and taking pride in it. Because the nation belongs to all of us, as much to party A as to party B. Indeed, interests of the nation must come first, in whatever we do as the party of the government or the party of the Opposition.

Therefore, in the President’s Address, I was as happy as any other honourable member of this House to hear about the successful launch of the Agni-III missile. Our scientists and engineers who made this possible deserve our praise and gratitude. 

Of course, we must remember that we have a long way to go to achieve the goal of maximum self-reliance in production of defence equipment and ammunition. A country as large and populous as India, and a country with such a vast pool of scientific and technological talent, must not remain excessively dependent on imports for our defence needs. India is currently on a $50-billion-dollar push over five years to modernise its military. Much of it will be spent on imports. Apart from a drain on our precious national resources, it is also not good for our defence preparedness. 

Some of the countries from which we import defence systems also supply arms to Pakistan. What an irony it is that we buy arms with our hard-earned money from countries that then provide arms as part of an aid and grants programme!

India’s domestic industry is now big enough and sufficiently advanced to play a major role in defence indigenisation. In addition to our defence PSUs, companies like L&T, Tata Group, Godrej, M&M, etc, should be supported to expand India’s footprint in defence production in a big way. I urge the government to take up this transition on a war footing.

I have recently read that, perturbed at the delays in defence acquisition that cause the surrender of large sums of money every year, the Ministry of Finance has mooted a change in policy that will empower Defence Minister A K Antony to clear defence projects up to Rs 1,000 crore, bypassing the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). 

I welcome this move, with two caveats. 

First, such empowerment should not dilute transparency and accountability in the Ministry of Defence. Second, let the Ministry of Defence use this autonomy to clear defence indigenisation projects.

Let me give another example of India’s spectacular achievement that should bring pride to one and all in this House. The President’s Address states that our country now has 570 million telephone connections. This makes India the fastest-growing telecom market in the world.

Until the late 1990s, getting a telephone connection was so difficult and the waiting period was so long that Members of Parliament who are old-timers, such as Pranab Mukherjee or A K Antony or Mulayam Singh Yadav, will remember that one of the main expectations that people had from MPs was to give recommendations for telephone — and also gas — connections.

Of course, I would like to remind the Treasury Benches that this achievement was made possible by the radical telecom reforms that the NDA government initiated. 

These days, I hear my friend Kamal Nath, the surface transport minister, talk about the government’s determination to construct highways at a speed of 20 km a day. I wholly commend this ambition and determination. But the government should remember that this progress, too, has been made possible because of the strong foundation in highway construction laid by the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

(Excerpts from BJP leader L K Advani's speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha on March 3)