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| OpINION |
the PM hosted a video confer- ence of the South Asian Associ- ation for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) leaders early in the crisis — our first such engagement on Covid-19. He announced a series of measures to deal with the pan- demic, including the creation of a Covid-19 emergency fund with a commitment of $10 million from India. We have also called for a better multilateral response to global crises in the future.
The Prime Minister has, on several occasions, including in the G-20 and Non-aligned Movement virtual summits, pro- posed the reform of multilateral cooperation by bringing people to the centre of our efforts. Our own initiatives such as the Inter- national Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure are prime exam- ples of this approach. The deci- sion of the G-20 on debt service
AUGUST 21, 2020 | The Indian Eye
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The Vande Bharat Mission has brought back hundreds of thousands of Indians back home
have been part of several dia- logues with several of our part- ners countries, notably the Indo Pacific Group that convenes every other week to coordinate health, travel, immigration and related issues during COVID times, We have kept open chan- nels of virtual communication to strengthen partnerships and deal with situations that require diplomatic engagement.
We have been constantly ad- justing, adapting and innovating to deal with the changed reality, particularly in our engagement with the world. And in the pro- cess, we have been successful in elevating India’s profile as a con- structive and dependable actor on the global stage.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla is Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The views expressed are personal.
suspension for developing coun- tries, which India fully support- ed, reflects this people-centric approach. At the virtual Global Vaccine Summit, the PM high- lighted how India’s contribution to the global response in terms of sharing medicines was guided by our philosophy of ‘Vasudhai- va Kutumbkum”.
The Prime Minister also hosted the first virtual bilateral summit with Australia, which was followed by the India-Euro- pean Union summit. In addition, the PM has spoken to his coun- terparts from 61 countries during this period. The external affairs minister has spoken to foreign ministers from 77 countries. I
self-Reliance thRough aRMs iMpoRt Ban
lFaxman kumar Behera
ollowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s May 12 clarion call for an
Atma Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Re- liant India), and subsequent defense-specific reforms an- nounced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 16, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) released on August 9 a negative list of 101 defense items which are banned for im- port.1 The list of embargoed items, which comes days after the MoD released two more domestic-friendly documents – the draft Defense Acquisition Procedure 2020 (DAP-2020) and the draft Defense Produc- tion and Export Promotion Policy 2020 (DPEPP-2020), was promulgated along with bifur- cation of the capital procure- ment budget between the do- mestic and foreign sources.
What is the significance of the negative list and how will it promote India’s self-reliance in defense? Also, what it means for the foreign companies
The arms industry at home will get a major boost under the new policy
vation, to design and produce a vast range of complex weap- on systems. Second, the listed items provide order visibility to the Indian industry in so far as the forthcoming requirements of the Indian armed forces are concerned. The industry can use the information in the neg- ative list for advance planning and eventual manufacturing in India if they choose to do so.
Third and perhaps the most important, the list has been prepared by the newly created Department of Military Affairs (DMA), which is in charge of the Indian defense industry and responsible for indigenization.
With the negative list in place, the Indian industry is clearly the biggest winner as all the identified projects are to be executed within India.
This is the abridged version of the article which appeared first in the Comment section of the website (www.idsa.in) of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi on August 13, 2020.
which have so far played a major role in India’s arms acquisition?
The negative list of 101 items is a comprehensive one. It in- cludes not just simple projects like water jet fast attack craft and offshore patrol vessel, but a host of complex weapons and platforms such as assault rifles, artillery guns, missile corvettes, attack helicopters, fighter and trainer aircraft and small trans- port planes.
Now, the MoD estimates that orders worth Rs four lakh crore (US$ 53 billion) will be placed on the domestic industry
in the next five to seven years. Of the total value, Rs 1,40,000 crore worth of contracts are expected to be placed by the navy, while the army and air force are likely to sign deals worth Rs 1,30,000 crore each. The expected orders are over and above Rs 3.5 lakh crore (US$ 47 billion) worth of orders already placed by the armed forces between April 2015 and August 2020.
The importance of the list is three-fold. One, the list recog- nizes the ability of the Indian in- dustry, which is otherwise known for inefficiency and poor inno-
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