In an effort to facilitate “quicker decision making”, newly-appointed Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has decided to make a departure from the set norms. She will hold meetings with the three Service chiefs and the Defence Secretary daily. Moreover, the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which clears acquisition proposals, will be held every fortnight.

Earlier, any Defence Minister used to meet the three Services chiefs whenever required based on the urgency of the issue. Also, the DAC meetings chaired by the Defence Minister used to take place once a month. 

The decision to confer with the three chiefs and the Defence Secretary and hold DAC meeting every 15 days was announced here on Monday.

Sitharaman, who formally took charge on Wednesday last week, has hit the ground running as she has to ensure that the pace of momentum of operational preparedness of the armed forces is sustained. Facing threat from Pakistan in the west and China in the east, the armed forces have to maintain vigil at all times and for this they need state of the art weapons and other allied systems.

The NDA Government cleared defence proposals worth over Rs 2 lakh crore since it came to power in 2014. While some projects have taken off, some others, including the manufacture of six submarines, here as part of Make in India policy are lagging behind.  This proposal worth over Rs 60,000 crore was given the nod two years back.

Sitharaman is racing against time as the tenure of the NDA regime comes to an end in 2019 and it will like to showcase to the people that the Government believes in delivering. Keeping this in backdrop, the decision to hold DAC meetings every 15 days was taken, officials said.

The new Minister will also have to address the issue of shortage of arms and ammunition speedily. The Army has ammunition for just ten days to fight an intense war as it faces critical deficiency of ammunition and critical spares. In fact, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also flagged the issue in its report tabled in the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly stressing the need for Make in India to reduce dependence for import of weapons, the Government recently announced the Strategic Partnership policy. It allows the Indian private and public sector companies to forge joint ventures with foreign original equipment manufacturers for building warships, submarines, fighter jets and artillery guns in the country.

The submarine project comes under the Strategic Partnership as well as the IAF’s need for at least 100 light weight fighter jets to replace the ageing MIG21s and Mig 27s. The projected cost of this is more than Rs 60,000 crore and the IAF is likely to float the global tender in the coming months. Two international aerospace giants namely lockheed Martin of US and SAAB of Sweden have tied with Tatas and Adani group respectively in anticipation of bagging the deal. lockheed manufactures F 16 while SAAB builds Gripen jets.

As the Prime Minister wants to make India a hub for manufacturing world class hi-tech weapon systems, Sitharaman will have to clear the blockades to ensure smooth implementation of Strategic Partnership and other contracts. Incidentally, defence contracts have a long gestation period before the deals are inked and the new Minister will have to speed up the various procurement processes.

The Defence Ministry communiqué issued about the two decisions on meetings said Sitharaman held a number of meetings with senior officials to familiarise with the activities and functioning of the Ministry of Defence and gave clear directions on critical issues. Special emphasis was laid by the Minister on the need to step up the pace of acquisition proposals. Towards ensuring time bound and speedy disposal, it has been decided to hold DAC meetings on a fortnightly basis.

A whole range of meetings have been scheduled with the three Defence Service chiefs to review defence preparedness and allied issues of strategic interests. Daily morning meetings with the three Service Chiefs and a separate daily meeting with the Defence Secretary have been formatted as a new practice for quick decision making.

Other areas of focus would be settling all outstanding land related issues for infrastructure projects and matters relating to welfare of Defence personnel and their families, it said.