November 28, 2014
Saugata Roy raises the issue of FDI in Defence in Lok Sabha during Question Hour
Trinamool MP Saugata Roy raised the issue of FDI in Defence during Question Hour in Lok Sabha today.
Here is what he said:
I understand the Defence Ministry is in catch 22 situation. On the one had our efforts for indigenization are all having time overruns – for instance the light combat aircraft. It had time overrun for several years, the medium battle tank had time overrun for several years. Only in the missile technology the defence research has been somewhat successful. In the meantime, after this Government came to power, the Government decided to have 49% FDI in Defence.
I would like to know from the Hon’ble Minister, Ma’am, that faced with this situation, you are now finalizing ‘Rafael Jets’ for Air Force from France; you scrapped ‘Westland’ and trying to finalize ‘Sikorsky’ from USA.
What is your long term plan? Whether trying to indigenize you will delay acquisition of vital defence equipment or you will try to build a manufacturing base, with the help of Foreign Direct Investment?
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