Manohar Parikkar must act on his military acquisition promise

A year ago, when Manohar Parrikar walked into south block to be at the helm of affairs of the defence ministry, his reputation of being a techno-politician, a rare qualification for someone from his ilk, had preceded him.

Even before he began performing, Parrikar's motor mouth ways surprised many. Some of his early utterances, Pakistani terrorists were "thorns who could be removed with thorns", and incessant border firing was meant to inflict "chilli burns" on the unruly neighbour.

More than anything else, the remarks reflected a rather simplistic understanding of the complex matrix of the security establishment. Parrikar arrived at the scene with an unstated elan to end "policy paralysis" instilled by his predecessor A.K. Antony whose legacy as the longest serving defence minister of the country was a huge decision backlog.

In Parrikar's own words at the start of his innings in the defence ministry, quick decision-making was his forte, a skill he had honed during his stint as chief minister of Goa.

It raised the expectations as the logical outcome of the approach would have been the resolution of several contentious issues that have plagued the security establishment.

Adding speed to the snail-paced acquisition looking beyond Parrikarisms process without getting soiled in the notoriously murky world of defence deal-making, pushing forward long pending structural reforms and addressing the bread and butter issue of pension parity for the veterans was one of the major challenges for him. It has been a hits and misses story on all these fronts till now.

Modernisation of armed forces is a necessary monster that needs to be constantly fed to remain in business.

The fundamental changes that are required to shake up the lethargic purchasing process through new acquisition policy is still a work in progress.

The minister has articulated well meaning intentions of shedding inhibitions in speeding the acquisition process but translation of these objectives on the ground has remained elusive.

Much of the time has been spent on undoing some of the ongoing acquisition programmes that had been caught in the time wrap.

The move could prove counter-productive if it adds to further delays in the acquisitions.

While decisions on acquisitions worth several thousand crores have been taken, only two major big ticket purchases - 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy lift helicopters - have actually realised.

The delivery of the renegotiated contract for the purchase of 36 French Rafale jets, which is expected in couple of months, would be an achievement despite the truncated numbers being procured as arming IAF with more fighter jets has been a critical requirement.

The defence ministry has also completely overhauled the induction programme of homemade Light Combat Aircraft "Tejas" by going for additional jets.

Just like shortages of combat flying assets in IAF, issues concerning navy's underwater arm continues to remain unresolved. The construction of line of submarine is yet to be finalised placing the whole project in a spin.

The structural reforms in the management of higher echelons of defence establishment have been in pipeline for years. The government has moved fast on the creation of the post of fourth four star officer as a permanent chairman of chiefs of staff committee or Chief of Defence Staff. The consultations are underway but nowhere near conclusion.

One of the major achievements of the NDA government has been the rolling out of the pension parity scheme, but it has been marred by protests from the veterans on certain unresolved issues.