Union Ministry of Defence approved 20000 Crore Rupees Proposal

The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 22 June 2012 approved defence proposals worth over 20000 crore rupees for the procurement of defence eqipments for the Indian army. The proposals were given the nod of the government in a meeting chaired by Defence Minister AK Antony.

The government in the meeting cleared an IAF proposals worth over 8500 crore rupees for procuring 14 Dornier aircraft and setting up a nationwide communication network and guns for navy and the coast guard ships. Besides, the proposal for procuring eight regiments of QR-SAMs worth over 10000 crore rupees was also approved by the defence ministry.

The decision to accelerate the defence procurements came following the former Army Chief Gen VK Singh’s letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in which he had raised serious questions over the preparedness of India’s defence system. In his letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the former Army Chief had blamed the extensive process for arms procurement for the poor operational capabilities of the 1.13 million-strong Indian army.General Singh had pointed out that 97 per cent of the equipment with the Army Air Defence was outdated.