The Hindu Business Line : Two too many

It was only just two years ago that the committee headed by eminent economist Vijay Kelkar submitted a comprehensive report on the structure of the Defence industry in India with a view to streamline the acquisition process by creating a consortium comprising the private sector, on the one hand, and Defence PSUs and Ordnance Factories, on the other.

Indeed, for some time, it appeared that the government had accepted the report and was serious about its implementation.

The Laying of a foundation stone last December of an Ordnance Factory at Korwa in Sultanpur District, the pocket borough of Rahul Gandhi, has put paid to what little hope was entertained that economics would take precedence over politics, post-Kelkar.

Similar move

It is no surprise that, politically, the UPA has done exactly what its predecessor, the NDA, did when the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes, in 1999, laid a foundation stone at Rajgir, Nalanda, in the boondocks of Bihar.

This Ordnance Factory was to manufacture modular propellants and, according to newspaper reports, although a whopping Rs 978 crore was sanctioned, it is yet to take off due to huge cost-overruns, apart from difficulties created by the cancellation of contracts with a South African company.

More than anything else, these two expedient political decisions fly in the face of the Kelkar Committee’s recent recommendation, which not only called for a perspective of 15 years to adopt product-based strategy, involving both private and public sector, but also repeatedly stressed the importance of capacity utilisation in the context of its observations on Ordnance Factories.

Languishing for load

As regards the ‘product’ to be made at Nalanda, there are three other Ordnance Factories which have been continuously modernised for making propellants and languishing for load. For small arms, while the new factory is being set up, there are already three, one of them in UP itself with enormous capacity. Less than a decade ago, these were streamlined adopting Japanese production line concepts.

This programme, which started in right earnest in 1996 and peaked around 2000, has already run out of steam. While the factories are geared to produce 1,50,000 pieces, the managers are worried about how to keep the lines busy as the current programme covers only an eight-month schedule. To compound their woes, the three other factories will be compelled to share the dwindling workload with the fledgling outfit to impress the political celeb.

Even more worrying is the Army’s penchant to reject models and designs of 5.56 carbines presented to them by Defence R&D, Ordnance Factories and even foreign vendors. To think Korwa is being set up just to produce 5.56 carbines makes it ill-starred at birth.

Arguably, if these plants will spur economic growth in the hinterland, the decision could still be sound. However, a propellant factory with its stringent safety considerations is an island in itself.

The components and plastic furniture producing units for small arms are so well entrenched that they will not brook fresh entrants just to please the Korwa unit, regardless of Rahul Gandhi.

(The author is former member Ordnance Factory.)

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