Economic Highlights

New Delhi, 16 February 2013

Copter Deal

OPENING A PANDORA’S BOX

By Shivaji Sarkar

The Rs 3600 crore Augusta Westland copter deal and the Rs 362 crore bribe trail looks more insidious than it appears. The concern is not over the involvement of bribe and naming of some top Air Force functionaries alone. It has also to do with the question as to why should security agencies require a separate fleet and why the design to club the security of the President and Prime Minister? Is it not an extravaganza for a nation which is having serious trouble with its economy?

The President as Head of State and supreme commander of the defence staff has a separate security arrangement and all the three Services have equal responsibility to provide it. The Prime Minister as Head of Government has a separate security arrangement provided by the Special Protection Group (SPG) and National Security Guard (NSG). Additionally, other intelligence wings are involved in these operations at different levels. Clubbing the security set-up of the Heads of State and Government is fraught with risk. The copter deal points to the bid to bring the two under one umbrella organisation. It is neither a good decision for security reasons nor a good political move. The two key functionaries must have a system that is insulated from each other.

However, it appears that the security agencies have drafted these proposals with a view to creating an aura around them. A nation should be concerned about security but can ill-afford to be paranoid about it, such as every simple decision needn’t be linked to security. Besides, multiplicity of security agencies only mount expenses on a country, which is finding meeting its daily needs difficult. Today, we have plethora of security forces and many overlap or duplicate the functions of the other.

While security should be a concern, the forces operate on an elaborate budget, sometimes part of which is kept outside the audit purview. In fact, each has a tendency to acquire assets not necessarily equivalent to their needs perhaps for ornamental purposes or to simply show off to parallel organizations their “worth”.

This phenomenon is not restricted to the agencies alone. The entire bureaucracy appears to be obsessed with it. During the past over five years, every organization has been acquiring swanky cars for its bureaucracy, which is not restricted for official purposes alone. The vehicles, despite rules prohibiting it, are used for family travel, ferrying of children to schools and other sundry personal chores. Sadly, the more the Government goes into a financial crisis and debt, more is being spent on such luxuries.

The cuts on expenses are not on luxuries. Even if a ban is placed it is skirted off with bureaucratic explanations of “urgent” but ubiquitous needs. Thousands if not lakhs of crores of nation’s money is being spent for the fancies of the bureaucracy.

The Westland deal also has emerged out of such euphoric needs. It appears curious that a security guard at a height of 15,000 ft requires a copter “where he can remain standing”. The logic is difficult to understand. How can a standing guard provide security if something is happening on the ground? Don’t the copters have sophisticated equipment for the purpose?

It is also difficult to understand how guards can replicate or replace the duties of an Air force or military personnel. In fact, when the nation has professional military establishment, it seems strange that a few thousand security guards need a separate parallel set up. The cost of such a set up is beyond the acquisition of a few aircraft. It is mounting the nation with perpetual heavy costs, which tells on the economy. Not a single security bodyguard agency earns a penny, rather these only drain resources.

The malaise is not restricted to the security guards. Even the Army, of late, is raising its separate aviation wing, which may give it an aura, despite the fact that the Air Force is there for the very purpose. The argument offered is lack of coordination between the two Services. Thus, is it not strange that because they cannot float together, the system is replicated to heavily drain not-so-rich national resource and foreign exchange reserve?

The Finance Minister and even the manager of forex, the RBI governor is concerned over the dwindling reserves in the wake of the current account deficit (CAD) touching almost 5.4 per cent of GDP. The Government borrowings have touched Rs 1600 crore a day, which is double of those in 2009-10 and amount to crossing 50 per cent of the GDP. During April-October it has touched Rs 3.7 lakh crore. Further, it has mopped up all the money pressed into the market through CRR and repo rate cuts.

The Central Statistical Organisation assessed growth rate of five per cent includes foreign investments as well. If that is deducted the real growth would veer around the proverbial Hindu growth rate of 3 to 3.5 per cent. In reality, the nation is on a negative growth path.

The copter deal is only the tip of the iceberg of many such deals, which come out in public gaze, whenever problems arise. It exposes the chinks not only in the acquisition process but in the entire piecemeal decision-making. Every proposal is treated separately and expenditure sanctioned and each is kept within wraps from a parallel agency so that it is not spiked. And, in all this the nation ends up spending more for similar jobs.

Clearly, there is need for setting up a system to review and assess the wants of such acquisition and how different agencies could be merged. Even a Parliamentary Standing Committee could be asked to study the proposals so that security could be provided without compromising on the needs. It is time the nation took a call on reducing expenditures on replication.

Likewise, the political leadership should not simply accept all bureaucratic suggestions as each requires close scrutiny. The motto should be to provide maximum security by combining resources of all agencies available and not providing a parallel set up for each. Apparently, Westland-type copters are the least needed and clearly not for joyrides as has come out in documented evidence after some accidents.

Undeniably, the nation needs to conserve every single penny as it is going through one of the worst economic crisis. It must not indulge in expenses that play with economic security for no number of security drills can save it! The Westland copter deal must be utilised among others to review the entire security set up and how best related agencies could coordinate to maximize their functioning and help cut wasteful expenditure of billions of rupees. Time tyo take off. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)