Parliamentary standing committee on defence admits shortage of ammunition

Kartikeya Sharma/ Gautam Datt New Delhi, April 23, 2012 | UPDATED 12:02 IST

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/parliamentary-panel-to-ensure-ammunition-supply-for-army/1/185610.html

The alarm sounded by Army Chief General V. K. Singh about the sorry state of India's combat-readiness finds resonance in the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on defence.

The House panel has not just admitted to the "critical" shortage of ammunition, huge gaps in the required and existing force levels as well as tardy procurement process, it has also come up with an innovative response to the service chief' s anxieties over these issues.

While mulling over the demands for grants for defence that are to be discussed by the Rajya Sabha when the budget session of Parliament resumes after the recess this week, the standing committee has taken the government to task for allowing the situation to reach such "criticality".

Significantly, the parliamentary discussions on the budgetary allocations of the defence ministry for 2012-13 will be based on the report of the standing committee. What is equally important is that the UPA government will be compelled to take the panel's advice seriously, considering that it does not have the numbers to throw its weight around in the Upper House.

The committee has recommended an institutional dialogue and meetings between it members and all the three service chiefs for a comprehensive review of India's defence-preparedness. This is a vital development because the rules of business state that the service chiefs are answerable only to the government which, in turn, is answerable to Parliament.

The defence secretary usually appears before the panel along with vice-chiefs of the three services. By setting in motion an institutional process of the service chiefs' dialogue with Parliament, the legislature has obviously gone the extra mile to ease the strain in civil-military relations - a step that should have been taken long ago by the executive.

The panel recommended a comprehensive review of the country's battle-preparedness that will take into account the equipment, war reserves, human resource availability and various other issues of geo-strategic importance. This would involve calling and consulting current as well as retired military officers, strategic experts and people with the domain knowledge of the existing threat perception.

The committee is believed to have felt that this comprehensive review report should be submitted to Parliament during the winter session later in the year. The proposal for the review was mooted by Congress MP Manish Tiwari and Naresh Gujral of the Shiromani Akali Dal. It was supported among others by the BJP's Varun Gandhi.

This would be the first ever such effort since the inception of the standing committee. The panel also noted that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) should consider framing guidelines with regard to the latter's being kept in the loop regarding troop movement towards the National Capital Region and Delhi.

In his letter to PM Manmohan Singh, General Singh had contended that the entire tank fleet was "devoid of critical ammunition to defeat enemy tanks". He had further observed that the air defence was "97 per cent obsolete" and the infantry was crippled with "deficiencies of crew served weapon" and lacked night-fighting capabilities. The letter was leaked and led to a national uproar over the state of the armed forces.

Sources revealed that against the backdrop of the stand taken by the army chief, the standing committee went into the MoD's functioning and was rattled by the "clear" picture. The panel was enraged over the way the deficiencies were allowed to persist, leading to a severe crunch in the army ammunition.

It was also apprised of the falling levels of the air force, including the high rate of air accidents and vintage fleet of aircraft (up to 40 years old).

The committee was appaled to know that in the defence allocation for 2012-13, only Rs.5,520.82 crore would be available for fresh purchases. The rest of the money - Rs.66,032.24 crore - would be spent on the deals that have already been signed or are awaiting final clearance.

The panel was briefed by defence secretary Shashikant Sharma, army vice-chief Lieutenant General S. K. Singh and other senior officers of the armed forces.

The Army vice-chief disclosed before the panel the "disturbing" fact of ammunition shortages. It was highlighted that tank ammunition was facing critical shortages.

Furthermore, it was contended that problems were being faced regarding the Fin Stabilised Armoured Piercing Discarding Sabot which is used to destroy tanks.

The panel was told that the total armour ammunition was only about 67 per cent of the required stock, while infantry ammunition stood at 70 per cent. Apart from this, the panel noticed that there was a shortage of guns. Another worrying aspect was that no new piece of artillery had been purchased after the Bofors guns in the 1980s.

The panel wants the government to put procurements on the fast track and is of the view that the MoD should be provided complete financial support to improve ammunition stocks.