BOGMALO: The Modi government’s quest to make India self-reliant in defence production through its ambitious ‘Atmanirbhar’ campaign, has become more of a political slogan, even if well thought former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral (Retd) Arun Prakash said here on Thursday.
“The Atmanirbhar campaign is a very well thought out and well-intentioned programme. But we should have launched this many decades ago and had we done so, possibly we would not have been where we are today. But, it is much more than a political slogan,” Admiral Arun Prakash, recipient of Vir Chakra, the third highest gallantry award, told Herald TV in an exclusive interview.
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He said that self-sufficiency is a process, which will take decades to fructify. It will be the end result of research and development (R&D), where our scientists have to explore various disciplines required for military hardware and then come out with solutions.
“R&D is a painstaking process. So it could take anything from 10-20 years for the results to emerge,” he said.
“Till that time we cannot handicap our military by saying that you don’t use anything important,” he said.
The former Indian Navy chief said that while defending the country, the armed forces should have every means available.
“We can’t wait for indigenisation to complete the cycle. It is foolish to expect something to happen tomorrow. We must persevere and we must fund it adequately and also we must encourage the private sector to participate fully, both in R&D and production,” the Admiral said.
“Moreover, we have been 100 per cent reliant on public sector undertakings, whose efficiency, productivity and work ethics have been questionable,” he added.
At a time when India is desperate to match up to China, the prospect of path-breaking defence deals during the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US is causing a lot of euphoria in the national television media. But is it going to be enough to counter the Chinese threat?
“There is no doubt and there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Chinese threat is quite serious and quite real, because they themselves don’t hesitate to tell us. We must remember that the USA continues to be the repository of much of the world’s advanced technology. If they are willing to share some of that technology with us, it can only be to our benefit and right now, we should be looking for new military technology,” the former Navy chief said.
“So the signs are all there. Now how much benefit we derive from this prime minister’s visit remains to be seen,” he said.
He also reminded that advanced technology is very precious. No company or country would like to part with it, without extracting a huge price. That price will not only be economic, but could also be a political or a diplomatic price.
“So, now it all depends on our leadership and our diplomats on how well they negotiate to ensure that we get what we need from America by paying the price that we can afford to pay, both in terms of money and in terms of political compromises that would have to be made,” Admiral Arun Prakash said.
“China is pushing us from the north and we have an unfriendly neighbour in the west, Pakistan. We continue to be a huge importer of arms, which makes us dependent on Russia for arms, but Russia’s own state is not very good. How long will Russia be able to or willing to continue to supply us arms is a question,” he said.
