Negotiations-A View From Down Under

Readers are undoubtedly aware of the importance of professionalizing the art of negotiations both in  Public and Private sectors. While the private sector is wholly focused on cutting costs to enhance profits,the public sector is oblivious of targets to be met within reasonable time frames. Consequently, opportunity costs incurred by the Government due to inordinate delays in concluding contracts is indeed mind boggling. The advanced jet trainer(AJT) for instance, took two decades to negotiate. The cost per aircraft continued to rise,modifications and modernization was a parallel process which also contributed to the spiraling costs. More than anything, we lost precious lives of trainee pilots since we did not have a suitable trainer to prepare them to man front line combat squadrons. 

My earlier blog in Oct 2011 covered the deficiencies in hostage negotiations. During my recent visit to Australia a report from their Defence Material Organization(DMO) caught my attention.Let me quote,"Defence Force mandarins are calling for private sector help after admitting the organisation lacks the skills and 'general business acumen' to prudently negotiate billion-dollar contracts with America's military-industrial complex".

The Australians who have had dealings with the USA for decades have at least accepted the need to have professionally competent negotiators to bring value to their own acquisition programmes. 

Since independence India has had to face strategic and tactical negotiation for settling cross border disputes,acquiring nuclear power plants,oil, military equipment and platforms costing billions of dollars and much more.
Yet there is no records of these proceedings for analysis or for teaching the art of negotiations. This is equally true of the private sector where record keeping for posterity is conspicuous by its absence. Personalities are trusted to negotiate, very often with least preparations and with minimum skills for it. When a deal is struck with a more proficient supplier, much is made of a win-win formula, the value of which  is never substantiated over time.

The answer lies in introducing negotiations in all business school curricula,  sending serving bureaucrats,men in uniform and private sector managers for courses in reputed institutions overseas or in India. We need to create a cadre of well trained negotiators in selected areas where continuity is of significance. SALT treaties between the erstwhile Soviet Union and USA were negotiated by the same group of people who met for decades.More importantly, given that equipment worth over a 100 Billion $ are on the cards for acquisition in the Ministry of defence alone, it is imperative that we form joint teams from public and private sectors to provide level playing fields to counter the very experienced commercial negotiators who are bound to descend  on us.

A word of caution, some of our well known academic institutions which claim to teach this subject have none or only a few with hands on experience of live negotiations,leave alone case studies of value.

This is a good time to clean up.

MODERNIZATION OF OUR ARMED FORCES

Much has been said about Arms Gate of India. Periodically, scams hit the headlines and TV anchors scream their heads off, virtually carrying out a media trial,without understanding the process of acquisition and the damage done to our forces by further delaying the modernization process.

The damage done to the reputation of those accused based on preliminary reports is another matter. CBI has rarely proved the guilt of those accused by the media but decades pass without any justice to the accused. Yet no one has filed for compensation either from the media or from those involved in the investigation and unproven charge sheets. The accused rarely have the energy or the resources to fight a system.

That there is corruption in arms deals is an accepted fact. An erstwhile Secretary of MOD has written a frank and objective piece on just this aspect in the OP-ED page of  Indian Express dated 21 Feb. He has asked for systemic reforms in the  process of acquisition. What he has left un said is that knowledgeable Politicians should occupy the chair of RM. This is not a portfolio up for grabs owing to loyalty to a party or the clean image a person enjoys. There is definitely a need for above average leadership qualities of the RM. No other Minister has to face the day to day challenges of running a large force of trained soldiers who are increasingly better informed and better connected with facts. This is a new era which demands understanding of service conditions, technical complexities and above all articulation of the strategic objectives of the Govt of the day.

In many years of my service in Delhi, I have had the privilege or the misfortune of dealing with both senior politicians and bureaucrats of MOD. It would be fair to say that I felt less privileged, as misfortune was the order of the day. . Barring one RM (unfortunately he held this portfolio in addition to his primary task-that too for a short while) not a single Politician was comfortable to deal with Senior officers of the Armed forces. The powerful presentations that are made to the PM and the whole hierarchy every six months, by no less than the Chief of the three services invariably results in  substantiating the proverbial 'water on the duck's back' syndrome. These were the  occasions when a large audience from the senior hierarchy of the Armed forces witnesses the deficiencies being brought to the direct attention of the PM and his Cabinet colleagues. Some Chiefs are known to be blunt while others, more diplomatic. In either case, no Prime Minister and least of all the RM, can claim to be ignorant of the crying needs of the Armed forces.

How then can a RM use the threat to cancel an acquisition, which takes five to ten years before it materializes,and having failed  repeatedly to remedy the systemic weaknesses in the Ministry that he oversees?

Those of you who care to read the Defence Aquisition procedures will soon realize that the Armed forces have direct control only on stipulating the technical contents and on evaluating a new platform/ system. The rest is totally and unambiguously under the Ministry of Defence. If Amitabha Pande, in the article quoted above, is right-and I have no reason to believe otherwise-it is not the quality of the system recommended by the services which is in doubt, but it is the subsequent process which need to be followed under the supervision of MOD.    
No  one has questioned the capability of Bofors, HDW submarines,SU 30 or Barak anti missile system. They were truly the top of the line systems/platforms. If money has changed hands it must be to expedite the procurement and so  it is advisable to look within the Ministry, in the first instance.

The Immoral India......

'THE IMMORAL INDIA'-What is the way ahead?

The symptoms were there for all to see. In one generation, i.e. from about 1970 till the turn of the century we witnessed historic if not paradigm changes in the Indian society. In the early Years of independence, conservative living with bare minimum creature comforts had disciplined most Indians to live within their means. Even the rich and well to do opted for Spartan life styles. From telephones to motor vehicles were considered to be luxuries of life which few could afford.

Then came the change. Destruction of institutions, which had been carefully created and nurtured. Political arrogance born out of a combination of dynastic politics and a suppressed people. Invasion of Television into the drawing rooms, liberalization of the economy, cable TV/Bollywood and the inevitable thrust towards consumerism. All this led to increasing trust deficit between the people and the Government. Social media began to empower a section of our society. The  power of ICT and its impact on moral and religious values were yet to be comprehended.

Poor infrastructure, induction of criminals with money and muscle power into legislative  and migration of rural population to urban centre coincided with another event. Empowering the socially isolated segments of society and the emergence of the nouveau riche.

Poor quality of political leadership led to crony capitalism, as that was an option for entrepreneurs and successful politicians to prosper. There were no level playing fields.

The fast lanes of urban life destroyed traditional joint family patterns leading to nuclear families. There was no one at home to illumine and stimulate impressionable minds on Indian epics and their lessons. Demographically, all this could not have happened at a worse time when India was leaderless and the density of population in cities continued its upward journey(likely to continue at least till 2030.)Given that, poorly governed city administration refuses to restructure and professionalize tools of governance, it only meant that we will witness the slow death of our Metropolitan cities.

How then can India regain her civilizational and cultural integrity? From a nation which claimed to be the epitome of  moral values, we have degenerated to an in disciplined, mindless ,valueless, insensitive and an aggressive people. Rapes and dead bodies do not move us unless it is so gruesome that it temporarily stuns us. Single issues can at best stimulate minds for a while. Palliative measures have to give way to prophylactic ones. The latter has to start with good politics, good economics, which in turn would hopefully result in adequate resources to address education, health, infrastructure, industry and all other essential segments that could and would restore the dignity of India. How would that come about?

A ray of hope. The middle class has begun to participate in demanding good governance. The middle class is growing rapidly and they inhabit urban centres. From the very inception, PPI has sought to mobilize this segment of our population in order to make some impact on the decision making mechanism that resides in the Parliament.

Getting good people into parliament and ensuring that their primary focus is on amending/creating laws and legislation that contribute to good governance, is the cornerstone of our strategy.

Anna and 'Nirbhaya', the 23 year old brave heart, might have just ignited the fire to awaken the middle class. It bodes well for 2013. Happy new year.

JAI HIND

  

Agitational Politics-we need long pending reforms

The years 2011-2012 have seen aggrieved citizens pouring out on the streets of their respective countries to protest and to register their dissonance with Political inaction. In Libya and Egypt and the ongoing civil war in Syria for their freedom from autocratic regimes and in India, to fight corruption, poor governance and anti-people policies of a democratically elected Government.

Anna,Khejriwal and  Ramdev have tried and are still trying to channelize the anger of the people by using their respective models. What do progressive and well meaning parties like PPI do to ameliorate the citizen's plight? By now it would be clear to all, that there are no quick fix solutions and that palliative measures are but temporary solutions to systemic weaknesses that need prophylactic actions.

Electoral reforms have been suggested by many eminent members of Election Commissions. If they were to be accepted many of our representatives would be disqualified. Police reforms were proposed by a retired senior police officer but remain unactioned by our elected legislators, despite directions of the Supreme Court. Judicial reforms are long overdue along with augmentation of infrastructure. But, the process of reforms are painfully slow.

To conceive and implement reforms you need qualified Legislators. Criminals in Parliament and  state Assemblies are not the right  representatives of the people. You cannot have unproductive Parliamentary sessions when so many critical bills are pending to be debated and passed.

Single issues are therefore not the solution to our dilemma. They will merely  bring millions on the streets. If electoral reforms, police reforms and judicial reforms are not addressed and  implemented on time, it is more than likely that the next single issue may turn violent enough to cause destruction and death, which is totally avoidable at this juncture of our history.

We all are aware of the problems but we need solutions to prevent regressive politics. You have to come out and vote for clean and good people who enter politics. Politics cannot be shunned as most of you are inclined to do.

Like minded and progressive parties are coming together to launch a consortium and to share scarce resources needed to reach out to you. All we need is an assurance that you will exercise your franchise to ensure that good people occupy the seats of Parliament and legislative Assemblies of this Country.

Jai Hind

RE-THINKING MARINE PIRACY OPERATIONS

I am delighted to be on board HNLMS Rotterdam for a seminar on Anti-Piracy operations. Not many seminars are hosted on board a visiting war ship. All war ships on long deployment look forward to their much awaited rest and recreation while those ashore eagerly look forward to making the best use of the ship's presence in harbour. It is in this context that i offer my sincere thanks to Commodore Ben Bekkering for this gracious hospitality accorded to us today. Equally I am pleased to make the acquaintance of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands HE, Mr Alphonsus  Stoelinga as well as the Commander Royal Netherlands Navy, Vice Admiral Matthieu Borsboom .

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have been asked to talk to you on the experience of the Indian Navy in Anti Piracy operations, lessons learnt and hindrances if any.

The Indian Navy, was fortunate to have executed two unique operations separated by a decade. I was a participant in the first as a Commanding Officer of a Frigate and in second as Head of Operations in the capacity of Asst Chief of Naval staff operations, at Delhi.

The first was in 1988, when a sudden coup de tat was attempted by mercenaries/extremists from Srilanka at Maldives. About 300 of them had entered Maldives but the President HE Gayoom managed to hide and transmit a message to the Indian Govt for assistance. While the Indian Air force and an elite Para brigade of the army swiftly swung into action within hours, the leader of the coup commandeered a Motor vessel called Progress Light from Male and escaped with 23 hostages and 47 mercenaries and headed for Srilanka. It was the turn of the Indian Navy to execute Operation Cactus, by intercepting the ship in high seas before she entered the territorial waters of Srilanka. Graduated use of firepower had to be resorted to by two of our Frigates,led by INS Godavari, while our newly formed Marine Commandos boarded, neutralized the mercenaries saved the hostages and the ship which was being scuttled. All this is of course on the internet.

A number of lessons were learnt from this episode, which was no different from Marine Piracy.

A decade later on 22 Oct 99, Indonesian pirates embarked and captured Alandro Rainbow, a Japanese vessel enroute to Miike in Japan, from Indonesia. This was a ship registered in Panama, owned by Japan, with a crew of 15 Philippinos and two Japanese. It had aluminium ingots worth a Billion Yen as cargo. The Pirates set the crew afloat in a boat and in a fortnight or so changed the identity to Mega Rama, repainted, sold half the cargo and set sail to the Middle East.

In a meticulously coordinated operation in which PRC of IMB, merchant ships at sea, the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy took part, we were able to capture the first, Phantom ship  at sea after using minimum fire power, return the ship to Japan with half the cargo and prosecute the pirates in our courts despite inadequate legislation, laws and knowledge of maritime environment by the judiciary. This had numerous lessons to learn which as you can see has been used in the ongoing  operations off Somalia.

Governments of most countries perhaps with the exception of USA and China are not known to expeditiously resolve issues related to legislation and laws to align with international treaties, conventions and laws.
 

Ask yourselves what would have happened if 47 commercial aircraft were to be hijacked and 867 crew were to be held hostage? Media would have ensured that the problem is resolved in the shortest possible time.

What then were some lessons on operations that we ought to have learnt? This is quite separate from addressing the core issues that create piracy as an option, due to poor governance, lack of development and a host of socio- economic issues.

Firstly, last 30 years have seen six different out breaks of Piracy. All were unique in their features pertaining to geography, motivation and execution. We cannot apply a common template to solve the scourge of Piracy round the world. For instance, phantom ships could be tracked if hidden transmitters could pin point their location at sea. In Somalia there was only one destination . All ships were taken to the home port of the pirates.

Secondly, a number of white collar workers have to support Piracy as a good business model. Imagine poorly run ports, money launderers, havala operators, qualified crew who take over and manage ships at sea, aircraft operators who drop ransom at predetermined locations, etc. If there is a will to track them the business model can be destroyed.

Thirdly, sharing of information among neighbours and diligent patrolling as has been done between Indonesia and India who share common waters  could be a deterrent.

Fourthly, we need a dedicated cadre of specialists on Maritime Law, who have had exposure to merchant marine, navy/Coast Guard in order to assist relatively small countries to come to grip with affairs maritime.

Finally, the Capt at sea should not be weighed down by restrictions of graduated application of force. Clear cut ROE's must be issued by Governments who deploy war vessels so that  officers are taught to use them with the discretion dictated by circumstances rather than fear of reprisal.

What might be classified as hindrances to operations?

Anti Piracy operations do not in the strictest sense fall under "Law of Armed Conflict". The Military options are quite limited.

Military assets are limited owing to various commitments including training. Hence such operations cannot be stretched beyond a point.

Limited legal options due to inability of most countries to prosecute pirates. Incidentally, after Alandro Rainbow we have discovered means to prosecute them . Presently there are 120 pirates undergoing trials in fast track courts in India. 73 have been released and repatriated.

Lastly, high risk areas are defined by various authorities. Best Practices at sea issued by Horn of Africa have imposed some burden on the Indian Coast as most shippers are hugging our coast which has implications to our fishermen. We need to rationalise this process.

In conclusion, much has been said about an integrated approach to addressing Piracy. We need academics, sailors, ship owners,regulators, insurance companies and crew who have been captured and released to participate in this exercise.
 Dalhousie University of Canada has launched one such project which addresses the human face of piracy and policy options available to decision makers. We can predict the next arena for piracy. The Gulf of Guinea is already a possible location.
 Piracy will not end as long as ships exist. If countries continue to emasculate their wealth and create abject poverty and illiteracy as means to keep the populace suppressed, pirates will find an easy way to earn easy money. Whichever is more lucrative, drug smuggling, human trafficking, gold smuggling or piracy. So long as ship owners are willing to pay ransom, Piracy could have a multi -Billion Dollar business model. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee!

THE HUMAN FACE OF MARINE PIRACY

This presentation was made at an International Seminar on Piracy at Karachi in Feb 2012. Courtesy-proceedings issued by Fazaldad Human Rights Institute.

THE ALANDRO RAINBOW CASE

At the outset let me place on record, my gratitude, to the organizers of this seminar for making it possible for me to be sharing some thoughts with this audience. It has taken many months of diligent and sincere communications between us to cross all the obstacles to obtain the necessary clearance to travel to Karachi. I am honoured and delighted to be with you.

Since the sub-continent provides a fair share of seafarers to the shipping industry, it is but natural that we will continue to have some of our crew in ships that are hijacked. The threat is common to all of us and it is imperative that we join hands to fight together since it cuts across our existing disagreements on bilateral and historical antagonism. It is in this context that we need to revisit the Alandro Rainbow case to draw lessons that may assist the international community to find amicable solutions to the scourge of piracy at sea. Let me briefly outline the facts related to the actual act of piracy, circumstances leading to the capture of the hi-jacked ship by the Indian Maritime forces and finally lessons learnt or unlearnt as perceived by us.

This is a classical case of good coordination and cooperation among agencies such as, the Piracy reporting centre at KL, alert standards of watch keeping by ships in receipt of warnings, quick reaction by Maritime forces and clear intent to pursue the pirated vessel and capture her and finally the successful prosecution of the captured crew by courts of law in India.

On 22oct 99, Alandro Rainbow,a Japanese ship of 7762 tons, registered in Panama with a crew of 15 Philipinos and 2 Japanese was hijacked within two and half hours of leaving Kuala Tanjung in Indonesia enroute to Miike in Japan.The crew was blind folded and transferred to a barge MV Sanho and thereafter set afloat in a life raft. Fortunately the crew was rescued by a Thai trawler and the Japanese Master promptly registered a case. Consequently IMB/PRC was informed and a bulletin to look out for Alandro Rainbow was put out on 27 oct. There is also a report that Thomas Cooper an insurance company offered a reward of US $ 200000; the cargo consisting of Aluminium Ingots was worth a Billion+ Yen. What was not known at this stage was that the ship was being converted into a Phantom vessel, which was renamed as Mega Rama. Half the cargo had been disembarked and the ship had set sail to the Persian Gulf.

At the south western tip of India, MV AlShuhada,a Kuwaiti  motor vessel sighted MV Mega Rama, on 13 Nov and an alert watch keeper found  considerable resemblance with Alandro Rainbow and despite the new name on display, he promptly reported the matter to the PRC. An equally alert Coast Guard of India decided to intercept the vessel and check its credentials.

It was CG vessel Tarabhai a small inshore patrol vessel which closed in and thus commenced a chase on 14 Nov. Mega Rama neither responded nor cared to establish radio contact, while increasing speed and altering due west. A CG Dornier aircraft joined at first light and flew across the bows of the ship to reconfirm that the new name was indeed painted over. By then Lloyds records had also confirmed that the ship called Mega Rama did not exist on the record books of ships in commission.

It is at this stage of the operations that the navy decided to support the efforts of the Coast Guard. Since I was the head of operations at that time, I can with certainty, recall the factors that were considered before arriving at the decision. It was established beyond doubt that the ship being pursued was indeed Alandro Rainbow. The then Prime Minister of Japan had made a statement in their parliament on the loss of the ship and the desire of the people of Japan to repossess the ship if possible. The interpretation of existing Maritime laws and specifically articles 100 to 107 of UNCLOS were carefully considered. It was also recalled that the original Regulations Indian Navy before the recent amendments, had very specific instructions to the Commanding officer of Indian War ships to aggressively pursue pirates at sea and that insufficient action in such pursuits may invite disciplinary action against the Commanding officer.

It was also envisaged that should firing be necessitated in self defence or to persuade the ship to stop, it would necessitate graduated use of minimum force to achieve the end result. The Commanding officer should not be burdened with restrictions and that laying down clear ROE’s was the task of higher echelons of the navy.

Finally the past experience of thwarting a coup at Maldives in 1988 at the request of the then President of Male and the subsequent engagement of MV Progress Light, which resulted in rescuing the hostages and arresting the rebels had a few critical lessons, which needed to be implemented. It was with these considerations that the CNS took the decision of deploying the nearest Missile vessel and later a frigate and a destroyer, the latter to prevent scuttling of the hi-jacked vessel through a large contingent of damage control teams available in larger vessels.

Missile vessel Prahar who reached the scene of action on 15 Nov after sun set, used all the available means of communication, illuminated the vessel in question, circled her at close quarters, when the pirates tried to ram Prahar and only when all efforts failed did he start with small caliber weapon firing across the bows of Mega Rama, aka,Alandro Rainbow.

By 16 Nov it was clear that the pirates were hardened criminals with adequate knowledge of ship management skills to delay or prevent the capture of their ship. The use of the highest caliber gun system was brought into action and it needed only two shots in the vicinity of the bridge and funnel to abruptly stop the pirates. White flags were hoisted by the pirates but they had also initiated the process of scuttling the vessel. The boarding parties had two objectives, to capture the pirates and prevent the sinking of the vessel. Both having been achieved the ship was towed into Mumbai harbour by the CG on 16 Nov.

Within a period of three months thereafter, the pirated vessel with half the cargo was returned to the rightful owner. The main battle was to follow in the courts of Mumbai.

The weaknesses in existing national legislation and laws and their alignment with evolving International maritime laws, conventions/agreements and International customs were huge impediments in courts of law. Thanks to the presence of the old Admiralty courts and processes which fortuitously remained in force, the court was able to sentence and impose fine/penalties on the offenders. There were many issues of jurisdiction, identification of offenders etc which later came to light at the higher courts of law, but then the seven year penalty had almost been completed by the pirates. Also the SUA convention had not been ratified at that point in time. The legal frame work and legislation to be worked by Parliament are matters of a detailed study by legal luminaries.

Let us briefly examine some interesting findings, which are my personal thoughts in retrospection and introspection.

Firstly, Phantom ship operations which involves pirating, renaming/repainting, disposal of illegitimately acquired cargo, use of poorly regulated ports to acquire legitimate charters,inter-alia, need a lot of white collar support from shore authorities, money launderers, lawyers and the whole gamut of well qualified and authorized phantom crew to run and manage the ship. How is it that the international community and commercial/UN led initiatives have not been able to generate cooperative measures to nail them down? It is like Somalian piracy, a lucrative multi-Billion dollar industry which is convenient to all stake holders. Like tax evasion agreements could there be bilateral or multi- lateral agreements among nations?

Secondly, sharing of information and diligent patrolling among littoral nations along with time shared presence of war ships for quick and seamless intervention is a need that merits attention. India and Pakistan can work at sea without prejudice to their disagreement on ongoing political issues.
.

Thirdly, in an increasingly globally net worked environment, is it not possible to 
maintain a centralized record of qualified Merchant marine officers and their whereabouts to locate those that sell their souls to indulge in piracy related activities? It would provide instant information of location and details of unemployed but 
.qualified crew who have the inclination and potential to support illegal trade

Rules of Engagement are essential to enable warship Captains to defend and use graduated and bare necessary offensive action to thwart and deter piracy. The Governments such as the Indian Govt were able to do so which led to effective neutralization of mother ships and remarkable decrease in high seas deployment of pirates.

Fourthly, it is time to create a cadre of specialists in Maritime law and nurture them by providing sufficient avenues of employment in the industry and state led initiatives. If they have a merchant marine /navy/CG background so much the better. I was delighted to meet one in Karachi, who having served the Navy is a successful legal luminary in maritime law.

I thank you for your attention.

THIS ARMY BASHING MUST STOP

The edited version of this  article was carried by IANS today 01 Nov 12 under the title "This uninformed military bashing must stop"

DEJA VU -THIS UNINFORMED ARMY BASHING MUST STOP

The print and electronic media have been eagerly lapping up some half truths ostensibly sourced from an Audit report of  Defence Account circulated within the MOD. It is a matter of great concern that every file noting/report from various organs of the Government is finding its way to the electronic and print media even without an RTI application. If many such papers are up for sale  the matter is even more serious, for the buyer is as guilty as the seller.

Quite obviously, the system of procurement whether by the Ministry or through recently delegated powers to service head quarters, has to be well understood before statements such as  "Generals have caused a loss of 100 crores..." is made by editorials of reputed media. Equally a television debate cannot establish facts, as most anchors interrupt the views of experts and juxtapose their own perceived views, thus leaving the viewer even more confused.

The Defence Ministers in most countries would have intervened with a press statement from MOD explaining the process of such an audit and the accuracy and finality of such reports. That would have not only clarified the veracity of information selectively placed in the public domain but would have eased the pressure on the Armed Forces to go public on facts and figures. Downward loyalty of the RM cannot be limited only to MOD. Surely he also needs to back the Armed Forces who are placed under him.

Without taxing the reader on technicalities, let me explain the process. These are facts not meant to defend the Army in this case but to place the subject in perspective for the reader.

Having established or reduced the office of Service Headquarters to Attached office status (now notionally designated as the IHQs) in the early 1950's,the MOD retained all controls of financial powers. The Chiefs did not enjoy delegated financial powers to even manage the day to day revenue expenditure, leave alone Capital expenditure for acquisition of assets.  The Navy was the first to suggest, discuss and get sanctions for New Management Strategy(NMS) commencing 1991. At that stage the intention was to address the first concern of unacceptable level of operational availability of ships and submarines. Delegated financial  powers to the Chief  to expedite decision making, resulted in achieving much higher readiness levels. Under the earlier dispensation, ships needing urgent or routine repairs and maintenance continued to languish along side, while MOD and MOD Finance raised objection after objections on modalities of repair. The operational and opportunity cost of delayed sanctions from the Ministry were so great that nearly half the fleet was awaiting some sanction or the other to be rendered operationally  fit for service.

It was not without years of discussion i.e.in 1997 and later in 2006, that the delegated powers with all the checks and balances were issued as Navy Instructions, thus making the Chief responsible for running the Navy through revenue budget delegation. Later these powers were grudgingly enhanced with more restrictions but were limited only to  the revenue expenditure and not to the Capital.

Not many would know that delegated powers for Capital expenditure were progressively enhanced to Rs 50 crores only from 2004 onwards and is now proposed to be enhanced to Rs 100 crores? Given that the annual defence budget has exceeded Rs. One Lac crores, over the years, every committee appointed by the Govt has forcefully sought delegation of adequate powers to the Armed Forces so that they are made responsible and accountable for maintaining  optimum readiness levels.

During this whole sorry episode Heads of large Government controlled departments such as Railways for instance, were allowed to exercise full financial powers commensurate with their operational needs.

Since the Navy, being the smallest of the three, had initiated ,documented and steered a successful pilot project, delegation of powers for other services was progressed on this model. MOD had ensured that at no stage was it possible for the Military authority, irrespective of rank, to sanction any expenditure without the concurrence of Integrated Financial Advisor,  barring few petty items of limited value. These officers were drawn from department of defence accounts. Needless to say the necessity to place so many of them in quick succession as advisors, created an avalanche of vacancies for promotion to this specific cadre-which could be a subject for another discussion.

The major weakness in the system was and continues to be the mindset of the IFA. Instead of assuming the role of an Advisor(which is not a part of his/her training) the IFA acts as an auditor for pre-acquisition formalities-the post event audit notwithstanding. More over there are not enough officers of the right seniority and experience to fill these increasing billets.

Clearly, no operational Commander under this dispensation would over rule the objections raised by IFA, since the latter forms an integral  part of processing/approving every step of procurement under delegated powers. It is ironical that the auditors who carry out post- audit at the centre, are from the very same cadre as those fulfilling  IFA functions in the field. Hence we have not heard of a single query raised on how the IFA allowed the process of procurement, if it was faulty. Such a system is not anchored on powers delegated to individual Commanders but to the system as a whole, with built in checks and balances.

Another interesting fact is that orders for delegation of powers do not empower the field commander to review the performance of the IFA whose final reviewing authority is  CGDA. Also if there is a conflict of interest between the delegated authority and the Financial Advisor, the matter is to be referred to Delhi. There is no situation in which the IFA who is involved in the entire process of procurement can be intimidated or arm twisted to acquiescence. If there is a faulty acquisition in procedural terms, the IFA is a party to it. Hence post- audit of the process should in the first instance ask for an explanation of the IFA.

This essay would be incomplete without reference to extraordinary delays in equipping the Armed forces with platforms,equipment,ammunition and ordnance due to the convoluted procedures of Defence Procurement which are handled entirely by MOD. AJT took about 20 years of negotiations and discussions, helicopters and guns are outdated. These need no elaboration as they are in the public domain. The cumulative shortages are so severe that most Commanders who have now been given limited powers of procurement, opt to procure a small numbers of critical operational necessities. Bullet proof vests are a case in point. Should a soldier continue to sacrifice his life  because there is protracted discussions on file between the Attached office and MOD? Most field commanders who feel for their troops would seek to provide what they can with what they have. The IFA knows it and hence he is required to advise and prevent procedural violations. If such violations are indeed discovered later, by an auditor who has neither the knowledge nor the responsibility to prevent loss of life, should it not be the responsibility of the IFA to explain the nature of such procurement? 

Lastly, most such observations made by the auditor is settled after explanations are obtained as per procedures. In the meanwhile, imagine the damage done by innuendos and television debates placing the blame squarely on Field Commanders .

Will the media carry an apology later? Perhaps it would be easier to obtain statistics from honest vendors(who prefer anonymity) who, reportedly, have had to and continue to bribe office bearers of Controller of Defence Accounts of all three services, just  to get their legitimate payments released with least delay and harassment.

Vice Admiral(retd.) Suresh Bangara, former FOC-in-C Southern Naval Command had held appointments of Director Naval Plans and later Assistant Chief of Naval Staff(Policy and Plans) when NMS was steered by the Navy.