New Delhi: The Government has taken several policy initiatives and reforms to promote indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country and enable development or transfer of technologies in the country, Parliament was told.
In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Shripad Naik said among the salient steps undertaken to achieve self sufficiency in defence sector include revision of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016 as Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020, which is driven by the tenets of Defence Reforms announced as part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
The opening of the North and South Defence Industrial corridors to promote setting up of industries supporting defence equipment and allowed acceptance of “Suo Moto” proposals from industry for undertaking indigenous design and development for items needed for defence services.
He said the government formulated the iDEX (Innovation in Defence Excellence) framework to provide an ecosystem for Startups/individual innovators/MSMEs to engage with Ministry of Defence/Academia and other such agencies for manufacture of defence related items.
It Institutionalised the Technology Development Fund and its processes to facilitate the DRDO to engage with Indian industry for technology development needs.
The Army launched the Army Design Bureau (ADB) on August 31, 2016 with the Bureau acting as a facilitator for research & development efforts and procurement of indigenously developed weapons and equipment extensive outreach programme for industry, MSMEs, Startups and Academia across the country for promoting ‘Make in India’. The outreach programmes, apart from generating awareness about the modernisation requirements, will help to meet the technology needs of the IA from within the confines of domestic resources and talent.
The Minister said Technology Development Fund (TDF) has been launched by the Government to giving impetus to research and development projects beyond the proof of concept stage. It has been provided with a budget of Rs 100 crores.
Modernisation, upgradation and sustenance of military equipment and weapons is a continuous process and constant endeavour to equip the Armed Forces with modern weapon systems/ equipment being carried out under various procurement provisions (DAP & DPM). Also in emergencies as in the prevailing situation, special procurement powers to enhance the operational capability are given to Service Headquarters.
DRDO has played a major role in the development of state-of-the-art platforms, weapon systems and sensors and upgradation of defence equipment in the country which in turn has enhanced capacity of the Armed Forces to tackle the present security scenario of the country efficiently.
The Government is planning to decrease shareholding in Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) namely, BEML Ltd., Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI). The completion of a transaction depends on market conditions. Therefore, it is not possible to predict a timeline, Naik said.
