Defence PSUs: The Great Betrayal !!
{{ S/O Gen GG Bewoor, ex- COAS }}
Saras
When the Saras crashed recently, killing its entire crew, the deafening silence in the media, as also from those who know about flight testing, design and manufacture of aeroplanes, and the unforeseen dangers in this activity, was rudely apparent.
What is the Saras for? Who would use it? What kind of pilots would fly such a piece of aeronautical disingenuity? Was the Saras made to any QRs ( Qualitative Requirements ) ?? Which potential airline or military user was consulted before the Saras design was frozen? Which certification agency oversaw the progress of Saras from the drawing board to the shop floor, and into the air?
These and many more questions are out of public domain, and alas, neither the media, nor the aeronautical engineering community, nor the Parliament, nor the Defence Ministry have demanded answers from the Designers or the Flight Testing agency controlling the Saras programme.
No chief of the IAF worth his salt will ever buy the Saras. Which VIP will fly in this piece of unreliable aeronautics?
What to talk of complex Technological platforms like Aircrafts, even the DRDO's much touted so called MM Hand Grenade (( the SIMPLEST of all weapons and the MOST basic one ~~ lifeline for the million strong Infantry Jawans, Army is still using the outdated 1945 model of IInd WW design grenades produced by Ordnance Factories since last 4 decades )) has been stalled at initial production stage itself as the Ordnance Factories can't produce it nor does it meet the user QR- Forcing the Army to now import it after kept waiting on false promises by the DRDO & Ord Fy Booard for the last 10 years !!
What about the precious lives of soldiers lost during the many field trials of this immaturish design ?? HAS ANYBODY BEEN MADE TO PAY FOR THIS CALLOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS ?? Why no heads have rolled so far ??
Whither Accountability ?? What can one say about the accountability of these organisations? Three precious lives of the Indian Air Force perished with the Saras. Many more in the Army.
Why Do the Armed Forces are being thrust upon with impotent and useless systems - always with a promise that better & safer version is still under development !
It logically leads us to a very basic question. Which VIP will fly in this piece of unreliable aeronautics? Just because the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and Ordnance Factories can make nothing better, must we accept it and then precipitate an avoidable tragedy?Are NAL designers willing to travel in the Saras? Would they put their families on this flying coffin ?
Indeed, the Armed Forces must support indigenous industry, and it has done so for decades like a true subservient body, many times against better judgment, but at what cost and for HOW LONG MORE ?
It is alredy 65 years now (!!) and to sustain these elite Organisations any more without accountability and penalty would be a monumental and grave infirmity and an act prejudicial not only to interests of the Nation but also highly detrimental to efficacy and the cutting edge of our Armed Forces, and also a great blow to the lives and Morale of our brave and valient airmen,sailors and soldiers.
After 26/11 in Mumbai, the clamour all over the nation was: “enough is enough”. Is it not time for the Indian Armed Forces to say the same thing about the PSUs/DRDO/Ord Factories continuing to design and manufacture what the Armed Forces do not want ??
It has to stop somewhere, maybe this accident should galvanize us into affirmative action to resist being burdened with weapons that we do not need today, and we will certainly not need tomorrow.Weapons and Tanks which are outrightly unreliable and hence liable to let down in Wartime.
After pumping crores and crores, can't the DRDO and Ord Factories give our Armed Forces even Rifles and Grenades ? What is their Credibility in the World Market today ? Are they in a position to Export any modern or current weapons ( whether land/air/naval based) even a fraction of what tiny countries like Israel, S.Africa ,Sweden, and even the Iron countries export to all over the world INCLUDING India ??
Aren't these Organisations, who are surviving solely on Reverse Engineering ( COPYING designs & technology illegally) a big and huge National Shame, not to talk of drain on the national exchequer ??
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During Aero India 2009, I was staying at the BSF Mess, and a young constable asked me “Saab, why have we been given the INSAS rifle? It stops more often than it fires”. After pumping crores into Ordnance Factories, they make unreliable rifles for our jawans?
The recent revelations about DG Ordnance Factory Board, taking bribes from suppliers, tells us what is happening in that organization. What is worse, no one seems to want to remedy the malaise.
We faujis have made so much fuss about the 6th Pay Commission, One Rank One Pension, Warrant of Precedence – fasts at Jantar Mantar, but no protest from any quarter, over all these years, about useless equipment being dumped upon the disciplined faujis?
Is this not willful dereliction of duty by successive DRDO scientists and the Officials of Ord Factories, in letting down their their supreme commander, the RM and the nation in turn ? Each of them, without exception is guilty.
Forget the investment poured into DRDO, look at the loss of lives because of their incompetence and negligence. The constant failure of the DRDO has placed India’s security in peril.
Most SAs, their scientists and the production agencies officials are alive and flourishing.
Even today in 2012 is it not shameful that we are still importing bullet proof jackets, winter socks & clothing, 5.56 mm rifle ( the basic soldier's weapon "designed by DRDO and mfrd by OFs ) bullets,tanks and its ammunition, BOFORs ammunition et al ? In fact , even today , 70-80 % of our armoury is of foreign origin !!
Under such scenario Should DRDO/PSUs/Oed FYs be even tasked to design and manufacture equipment for the Armed Forces? Won’t a small entrepreneur in NOIDA or Erode do a better job? Or better, ask Tirupur – they will replace their traditional hosiery with armored jackets for the Armed Forces, CISF, BSF, and ordinary cops.
Whenever the Armed Forces want a weapon system, the DRDO invariably says “we can make it” and they have an unassailable record of never delivering. Ultimately, we import that same equipment at ten times the cost.
Stories of this perfidy and atrocity are too many to enumerate.
The purpose of this article is not to list the unerring failures of our DRDO laboratories, Defense PSUs, and Ordnance Factories. It is to seek accountability, disciplinary action from those who have put India in jeopardy, by constant failure to give what is promised to the Indian Armed Forces to fight for India and her people.
Who Gets Punished for Non-Performance & Manpower Shortage?
No Accountability. Fauji officers who under perform or commit blunders get punished, they miss promotions and the majority in any case waste out with as little as 25 years of service. DRDO scientists continue unhindered till 60 years and even beyond till the closure of their assigned Project (whether successfuly or othrwise ! ) even when they do not deliver.
Which DRDO/PSU official has been puunished for repeated or consistant failures? Has anyone from Ordnance Factories been punished for the defecs in INSAS rifle or the need to still import its ammunition ?
They fail to even copy a weapon system, and then retire gracefully with full benefits. Can there be a more pitiable state of affairs in the scientific community of India? How much longer will DRDO and its associates gobble up large parts from the Consolidated Fund of India, with zero returns?
How much longer must the Armed Forces be held hostage by non-performing technocrats?
WHY HAS NO BEAUROCRAT ( who normally come down heavily on the Arme Forces )so far and PUBLICALLY been held responsible for toleraring, and maybe ABETTING TOO, such Felonies ??Is it not Outright Acts of OMMISSIONs by the Ministry of Def viz the beaurocrats and the political heads !!
Can the media not seize this opportunity to reveal the truth and force remedial action? How come that greatest SA to RM that Inda has produced , could not ‘ignite the minds’ of his own non-performing scientists?
Probably Pp
Pro The basic cause is that motivational fuses were never inserted into these exalted organisations
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