The opposition might be claiming that there is economic stagnation in the country, but the last three years have seen a big push as far as the defense sector is concerned. According to ANI, over the last three years, the defense ministry has given nod for 111 military projects for producing military hardware under the Make in India initiative in the defense sector. These projects are of worth over Rs 1.78 lakh crore.
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre informed the Lok Sabha, “In the last three financial years from 2015-16 to 2017-18, the government has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to 111 proposals, worth Rs 1,78,900 crore approximately, under `Buy (Indian-IDDM)`, `Buy (Indian)`, `Buy and Make (Indian)` or `Make` categories of capital procurement as per Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), which means Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued only to Indian Vendors.” He also said, “In the same timeframe, 99 contracts worth about Rs 65,471.28 crore have been signed with Indian vendors for the procurement of defence equipment. DPP stipulates a time schedule for completion of the procurement cycle.”
Defense sector has been one of the focus areas in the Make in India initiative of the incumbent government. In fact, equipment including helicopters, fighter aircraft, and submarines are planned to be manufactured in India under the Make in India initiative in the coming years. The fact that 111 military projects have been cleared over the last three years goes on to show that the Make in India initiative has witnessed tremendous success as far as military projects are concerned.
On another query about the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas, the minister stated that out of the 16 Initial Operational Clearance planes, 10 have been delivered to the Air Force till now. He said, “Till date, out of 16 IOC fighter aircraft, 10 fighters have been delivered by HAL and are operational with IAF`s 45 Squadron. The delivery of remaining 6 IOC fighter aircraft is planned by March 2019.”
It is clear that despite the propaganda of the opposition that ‘Make in India’ has not been successful, it is clear that the very initiative has yielded positive results in the last three years as far as the defense sector is concerned. In fact, it is not only in the case of military projects that the Make in India initiative has seen tremendous success. The government has also been successful in promoting domestic manufacturing in some sectors such as smartphones. Last year, India overtook the United States to become the second largest manufacturer in the world, trailing only to the global manufacturing giant China. Now, the government has decided to promote domestic manufacturing of major appliances like refrigerators, water coolers, microwave ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, and air conditioners.
Modi government has undoubtedly been able to ensure that the manufacturing sector gets the kind of boost that it needed in order to make India a manufacturing power to reckon with. The Make in India initiative has turned out to be a grand success and there is an impressive spurt in manufacturing across several sectors. This also busts the oppositions’ propaganda that the ‘Make in India’ initiative does not have any substance. The positive results that it has yielded are for everyone to see.
