Nirmala Sitharaman was defence minister from September 3, 2017, to May 30, 2019. The prevailing belief in South Block, she gathered, was that defence scams had roots in India’s dependence on imports. A.K. Antony, who had a rocky tenure as defence minister, had once suggested indigenisation of military hardware as the “ultimate answer” to prevent scams. Now, as the finance minister who is on a mission to make India atmanirbhar, Sitharaman is drafting a “negative list”—of weapons and military platforms that cannot be imported—to secure the goal of self-reliance.
The list may include artillery guns, armoured tanks, radar and certain types of ammunition. These will have to be made indigenously. Sitharaman has also raised eyebrows with her plan to open up strategic sectors like space and atomic energy. “While certain high-end technology systems can still be procured from abroad, emphasis will be on procuring locally made products,” said Sitharaman. She has announced the enhancing of the FDI ceiling in defence manufacturing from 49 per cent to 74 per cent under the automatic route, with an aim to attract behemoths like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus and Saab.
This story is from the May 31, 2020 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the May 31, 2020 edition of THE WEEK.
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