Advani Praises Jaitley’s 2016-17 Budget

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna Advani on Monday dubbed the General Budget for 2016-17 presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament as the best ever, saying it has the potential to boost India's economic growth with employment generation while reducing social imbalances.

"Have seen many budgets being presented in Parliament, the one presented by Finance Minister Jaitley today is certainly one of the best budget so far. Budget 2016 has potential to boost India's economic growth with employment generation, while reducing social imbalances. ," Advani said.

"Budget 2016 has made unprecedented provision for accelerating and modernising infrastructure in critical areas such as highways, railways. At a time when global economy remains weak, India's growth is laudable. It looks to become even brighter in the coming years," he added.

The BJP veteran further said the most heartening of the Budget is its strong emphasis on the neglected task of revitalisation of agriculture and rural development.

"Prime Minister and Finance Minister adopted approach that promises to make India stronger and more prosperous, while making 'Antyodaya' central theme of economic growth," he added.

Presenting the General Budget proposals for 2016-17 in Parliament today, Jaitley said that the government's agenda is to transform India, with incentives for agriculture and farmers' welfare, rural employment and development of infrastructure, covering all welfare and health services as well as making India as a knowledge based and productive society.

Jaitley said that government will reorient its intervention in the farm and non-farm sectors to shift focus beyond the country's food security to farmers' income security.

He said that a total allocation of Rs.35, 984 crore is proposed for this purpose in order to double the income of farmers by 2022.

He said that a Unified Agricultural Marketing E-Platform will be dedicated to the nation on the birthday of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar on April 14 this year to help the farmers in accessing markets, which is critical for enhancing their income. (ANI)

Israel's Seeker Technology to Revolutionise Indian Defence

India and Israel are expected to ink a significant Defence deal worth over Rs50,000 crore for Seeker technology ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tel Aviv later this year. The cutting-edge technology will help India take a giant leap forward in manufacturing smart weapons within the country and rapidly modernise missile and rocket system used by the IAF, Army and Navy.

The talks for wrapping up the deal are in advanced stage between the two countries and Israel has agreed to transfer the expertise to develop and manufacture Seeker technology. It will enable the Defence forces to identify, acquire and then destroy an enemy missile or aircraft at long range or beyond visual range, reports Defence News.
In simple terms, it means a warship can fire a missile at a hostile target at more than 200 km distance without visually sighting it as compared to the present 50 to 60 km. Seeker technology will also revolutionise the armoured corps as tanks will hit a target at a greater distance and same will be the case for fighter jets. In fact, this technology will cover the entire gamut of missiles ranging from Akash to Long Range Surface to Air Missiles (LRSAM) used by the three Services.
Elaborating upon the importance of this proposed deal, officials said here on Saturday the countries including the US and some European countries are reluctant to transfer Seeker technology to India resulting in the country’s missile system lagging behind by at least two generations.
Against this backdrop, Israel has given a clear signal that it will provide the critical ‘know why’ instead of ‘know how’. Starved of the state-of-the-art technology, the Indian industry depends on know how or technology transfer but has not been able to master entire process of manufacturing a smart weapon from scratch. In turn, it hampers the faster modernisation of the armed forces as they are using weapons which are at least 15 to 20 years behind in terms of technological advancement as compared to the US, China and NATO countries.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be the lead agency in developing this technology. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had given an “in-principle” approval for setting up of an Rs6,000-crore facility by the DRDO for air missile defence systems last year.
Besides the Seeker technology deal, the two countries are likely to ink a Rs10,000-crore deal for joint development of a medium-range surface-to-air missile system for the Indian Army.
The other pacts include procurement of 164 laser-designation pods or ‘Litening-4’ for IAF fighters like SU-30s and Jaguars as well as 250 advanced ‘Spice’ precision stand-off bombs capable of destroying fortified enemy underground command centres. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by the Prime Minister may clear it next month, sources said.
Talks are also underway to finalise a Rs3,200-crore contract for 321 ‘Spike’ anti tank guided (ATGM) systems and 8,356 missiles. The Army is in urgent need for third-generation ATGMs, with a strike range of over 2.5-km and fire-and-forget capabilities, to equip all its 382 infantry battalions and 44 mechanised infantry units.
The NDA Government in 2014 had selected the Israeli Spike ATGM over the US Javelin missile system, but the actual contract could not be inked due to some issues. The project involves an initial off-the-shelf induction, followed by large-scale indigenous manufacture by Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).
The proposed medium range surface to air missile (MRSAM) project between DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), too, is a big ticket item, officials said. The initial order is for one MRSAM regiment, with 16 firing units along with their multifunction surveillance and weapon control systems. BDL will manufacture these missiles. DRDO and IAI are already engaged in a project worth over Rs13,000 crore for Navy and IAF for developing similar missiles.
Incidentally, the Israel Defence industry is closely involved with the DRDO in more than 30 projects, including development of radars, electronic warfare systems and satellite based command and control systems for the three Services.
Moreover, Israeli made Greenpine radars are successfully integrated into the Agni missiles systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Israel is now the third largest weapon supplier after the US and Russia to India since diplomatic ties between the two nations were established in 1990.

India pursuing ‘Fancy’ Military Projects: Pak Daily

India's rapid economic growth has helped the country to persue “fanciful defence projects” and it also suggests that “ambition more than pure threat perception is driving the country's defence strategy”, a Pakistani Daily said in an editorial piece.

“An economy that is still growing at more than seven percent per annum has created the fiscal space for India’s policymakers to pursue fanciful projects,” the influential Dawn said in an editorial.
The paper said that India had never shown any interest to the Strategic Restraint Regime (SRR) that seeks nuclear restraint, conventional balance and dispute settlement.
Emphasing the need for SRR, it further said that Pakistan and India are among the top 10 importers of arms globally.
The editorial comes after Pakistan's National Command Authority (NCA), the apex nuclear body in the country, met on Wednesday and “re-emphasised its desire for establishing SRR in South Asia.
The NCA also called for “meaningful and sustained comprehensive dialogue for resolution of all outstanding disputes”.
Saturday's editorial emphasised that SRR would eliminate the possibility of an arms race between India and Pakistan through a dispute settlement mechanism as envisaged by SRR.
It also claimed that “India has never been interested in SRR.”
Drawing opinions from the country's various security experts, the editorial sought to explore the reasons behind an said that India's “massive investments to transform its military capabilities do suggest that ambition more than pure threat perception is driving India’s defence strategy”.
“An economy that is still growing at more than seven percent per annum has created the fiscal space for India’s policymakers to pursue fanciful projects,” the paper added.
It said that it was “India’s consideration of Cold Start, a next-generation conventional capability, that triggered Pakistan’s interest in tactical nuclear weapons.
“Cold Start was Pakistan-specific and had little relevance to China, suggesting that if India had shown restraint in its public posturing, the Pak-India nuclear threshold would not have been altered.
Emphasising the importance of a compresensive dialogue between Indian and Pakistan, the paper noted “Indian and Pakistani policymakers are ultimately rational actors.
“Dialogue may not yield immediate or significant breakthroughs, but that is why it needs to be meaningful and sustained. The NCA statement suggests that the military is supportive of comprehensive dialogue. India should meet Pakistan half way.”