Varun Hari Prasad

In the earlier blog , I had recorded the broad features of the Rafale deal under the UPA and NDA Governments. In this blog, I propose to place a few facts pertaining to the two questions I had posed in the earlier blog: What makes the NDA's deal different and controversial? Why is Mr Modi being called a 'Chor'? Let us now look at both these questions in detail: What makes the NDA Government's deal different and controversial? The NDA Government's deal is different because of the following facts: There is no explanation for how Mr Modi arrived at this number - 36. As of 10 April 2015 (the date PM announced the deal), there was no clue as to what had happened to the RFP (for 126 aircraft) issued by the UPA Government. None of the aircraft were to be manufactured in India under Transfer of Technology The Government claims that it has purchased 36 aircrafts because there is an 'urgency'. The Air Force, in its demand had stated that it i...

Defence procurement has always been a matter of controversy in India. Starting from the Jeep purchase in the 1960s to Bofors to VVIP Helicopters (Augusta Westland); the Rafale is no exception. But what is it that makes this ‘deal’ more controversial than others? Why is the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi being called a ‘chor’? I propose to answer to these questions in two parts. In the first part I will only place before you the features of the ‘deal’ under the UPA and NDA Governments. The Rafale Deal under UPA Government As per the requirements specified by the Indian Air Force (IAF), the UPA Government issued a Request For Proposal (RFP) on 28 th August 2007 for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircrafts (MMRCA). This RFP was issued to six vendors and it was made clear that the bids were to be inclusive of cost of initial purchase (including that of weapons and missiles), cost of transfer of technology, licence royalty for manufacture in India and cost of initial traini...