by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Maeeshat.in,
Mumbai: Congress Party’s Leader in Lok Sabha and General Secretary in-charge Of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge will lead a massive protest march against Rafale Scam in Mumbai Thursday demanding immediate resignation of PM Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The morcha will start at 12:30 pm and will culminate at August Kranti Maidan. After the protest, Congress Party’s delegation will meet Hon. Governor of Maharashtra demanding the same. Congress Party’s another demand with regard to the Rafale Scam is to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the whole matter.
Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam who is organising this massive protest march along with his team said, “This scam is a classic case of crony capitalism. PM Modi and Defence Minister Sitharaman have not only engaged in this scam but also have tried to cover it by providing misleading information about the entire deal. This is the biggest scam of the century. PM Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have cheated the country and need to be removed from their respective posts with immediate effect”.
Along with Mallikarjun Kharge and Sanjay Nirupam, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Ashok Chavan, Former Maharashtra CM Prithiviraj Chavan, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Former State Unit Chief Manikrao Thakre and many other senior party leaders will hit the streets tomorrow demanding resignation of PM Modi and Sitharaman.
On 10 April 2015 PM Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafele jets after having talks with the then French President François Hollande. However, last week Hollande claimed that the Govt of India had suggested Reliance Defence as an offset partner for Dassault Aviation which was always refuted by the BJP Govt. Congress President Rahul Gandhi had raised this issue exposing PM Modi and his Govt’s corruption in the Rafale Scam in which he stated that it is PM Modi who has brought Anil Ambani into this whole deal side-lining public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Modi-led BJP Govt had then said that bringing Anil Ambani in this whole deal was not their decision but a decision taken by Dassault. Recently the then French President François Hollande contradicted the Govt of India’s stand and said that it was the Govt of India which persuaded Dassault to take Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as their partner. Since then, it has become a huge embarrassment for the Modi Govt and the BJP. As a part of national campaign against Rafale scam, Mumbai Congress along with MPCC has organised this massive protest tomorrow to expose the deep-rooted corruption existing in the BJP-led Modi Govt.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Terming Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the “Rafale Minister”, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded her resignation after former HAL chief T. Suvarna Raju refuted her claims that the state-owned aerospace and defence company did not have the capability to build the fighter jets.
“The RM (Rafale Minister) tasked with defending corruption has been caught lying again. The former HAL chief, T.S. Raju, has nailed her lie, that HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) didn’t have the capability to build the Rafale,” Gandhi said.
“Her position is untenable and she must resign” he said.
Gandhi’s comment came amid a war of words between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the Congress, after Sitharaman during an interview to a news channel claimed that the Bengaluru headquartered company governed under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence was not competent enough to produce the aircraft.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Startup Basics
Bengaluru : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday called upon startups to develop technologies and weapons for the Indian armed forces.
“We (Ministry of Defence) want you to provide Indian solutions to problems faced by the armed forces. By indigenisation, India doesn’t need to import many of the products that we do,” Sitharaman told startups in this tech hub.
“India wants its sectors disrupted through technological advancements,” she said at the launch of “Defence India Startup Challenge”, a national contest for startups to develop arms and technologies for the defence sector.
“Indigenisation has been a priority for India, however, we did not indigenise sufficiently enough,” the Minister added, addressing a gathering of 200 startups, incubators and defence officials at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Convention Centre in the city centre.
Through the contest, startups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual researchers and academic institutions can take part in 11 different categories of creating technologies and products that can be used by the armed forces.
The 11 categories in which the startups and researchers can develop products or solutions include building see-through armour for the army, development of 4G-based tactical Local Area Network for the Navy, and laser weaponry and unmanned surface and underwater vehicles development for the Air Force, among others.
Select few startups will also receive a funding of up to Rs 1.5 crore through the Ministry for developing their ideas, and given access to test their products.
As part of the event, a Bengaluru-based firm Tonbo Imaging has been given an order to make night fire control system for Russian-made grenade launcher AGS-30.
“The Ministry will ensure the startups working on their ideas get the orders,” Sitharaman said.
Noting that unmanned drones with missiles are the envy of many countries, the Minister added it is not beyond India’s capacity to develop them.
The Defence Ministry, on the occasion, also tied up with five business incubators to promote and support the startups, including Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship with Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad; Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay; T-hub startup incubator in Hyderabad; ‘Forge’ incubator in Coimbatore; and IIT Madras.
“The contest is in line with the Innovations for Defence Excellence (IDEX) scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in April during Defence Expo in Chennai, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in defence sector,” an official statement said.
The competition will also give a fillip to the country’s innovation potential and create networks for collaboration between defence sector and startups, it added.
Over 200 startups, 50 SMEs and 12 business incubators took part in the defence-business gathering.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of misleading the Lok Sabha by not revealing the price of the Rafale fighter jets bought from France and indicated it could move a motion of breach of privilege against them.
“Deluding and misleading the people of India, the Prime Minister and Defence Minister sought to lie on the floor of Parliament. Neither the revelation of the commercial cost of Rafale aircraft will violate any secrecy agreement with the French government nor will it reveal any classified or protected information,” former Defence Minister A.K. Antony and senior leader Anand Sharma told a press conference.
Party sources said that consultations will be held with legal experts and the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, will decide on moving a privilege motion against Modi and Sitharaman in a day or two.
Antony and Sharma referred to the discussion during the no-confidence motion against the NDA government in the Lok Sabha on July 20 and said the Prime Minister sought to “hide behind a cloak of pseudo nationalism” in the Rafale deal and said the truth was that the Modi government was “guilty of compromising national interest and national security”.
The two leaders said that “shoddy cover-up, self defeating assertions and deliberate lies were being dished out to divert, dupe and deceive”.
“Grave apprehensions and claims of insurmountable loss being caused to public exchequer stand exposed as government refuses to state the truth,” they said.
Rejecting the government contention that the deal was covered by a secrecy clause under which the price cannot be revealed, Antony said the agreement between the governments of India and France in 2008 during the UPA government does not mention that commercial cost of procurement of defence deals cannot be revealed.
“The scope of the agreement only extends to tactical and technical details of weaponry relating to the capability of the platform in question and its performance and tactics in combat and does not include commercial details and costs. It is clear that the Prime Minister and Defence Minister misled the nation,” Antony said.
Claiming that the per aircraft price of Rafale as per international bid in 2012 during UPA government came to Rs 18,940 crore for 36 aircraft, the leaders said the Modi government purchased the same number of aircraft for Rs 60,145 crore and asked BJP to explain the extra amount of Rs 41,000 crore paid from public money. “This price is apparent from the ‘Annual Report, 2016’ of Dassault Aviation,” they said.
They contended that under the law, the government was bound to provide to full information to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence and the Comptroller and Director General of India (CAG) and asked why the Modi government was not disclosing the commercial cost of the deal.
Antony and Sharma referred to two replies given by the Defence Ministry in 2016 and 2018 in Parliament revealing the price to be approximately Rs 670 crore per aircraft and asked why was the Defence Minister lying today.
They also quoted an interview given by French President Emmanuel Macron to a prominent news channel in India saying that if the Modi government wanted to disclose some of the details with the opposition, it can do so.
“Prime Minister Modi in Parliament took refuge in the statement released by the French government. Modi government must tell that the price of Rafale is not a secret, its specifications and weaponry are. The statement said the agreement ‘legally binds the two states to protect the classified information provided by the partner that could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipments of India and France’.”
The Congress asked where had the French government even said that the price of Rafale aircraft cannot be disclosed.
The two leaders also referred to answers given by the UPA government between 2010 and 2013 regarding the price of acquiring INS Vikramaditya, upgrade of Mirage aircraft, procurement of Sukhoi aircraft and development of Kaveri engine.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Nirmala Sitharaman and Florence Parly in New Delhi.
New Delhi : India and France on Friday reviewed initiatives to enhance bilateral defence cooperation, as Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held talks with her French counterpart Florence Parly in the national capital.
An official statement from the Defence Ministry said the two ministers “reviewed ongoing initiatives to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation as a key pillar of the strategic partnership between India and France”.
A slew of issues including the ongoing defence deals, as well as that for 36 Rafale fighter jets, industrial and technological partnership under the Make in India initiative, the regional security situation, including terrorism, and the overall global security scenario figured in the talks.
Defence operational cooperation, specially in the field of maritime security, joint exercises of the armed forces, were among the issues in focus, at a time when the Chinese Navy has been increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean Region.
“Recognising the growing significance of maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and the need for greater maritime domain awareness, India and France will further expand information sharing arrangements building upon the Technical Arrangement on Exchange of White Shipping information signed earlier this year,” the statement said.
“A range of measures to expand military to military ties, including enhancing the scope of their joint exercises, in particular the Varuna naval exercise scheduled in early 2018, were agreed upon. Both countries will also actively explore additional measures to facilitate operational level interactions between their respective armed forces,” the statement said.
The ministers reiterated their strong intention to further expand bilateral cooperation on counter- terrorism.
They also “comprehensively reviewed” developments in defence equipment and industry cooperation, where France is a major partner. They agreed to strongly support projects for defence manufacturing under the Make in India initiative as well as promote defence technology and Research and Development cooperation, the statement added.
The possibility of another deal for additional 36 Rafale jets for India is expected to have figured in the talks, though there was no official confirmation.
On Friday morning, Parly paid tributes at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at Indian Gate, and was accorded a Guard of Honour in the lawns of South Block, which homes the Defence Ministry.
A statement from the French Embassy on Thursday called India the “foremost Asian strategic partner” and said the Minister’s visit was aimed at strengthening all aspects of France’s fast developing defence cooperation with India.
Parly later went to Nagpur on Friday evening, where she participated in the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) by its joint promoters, along with Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and CMD – Dassault Aviation Eric Trappier.
DRAL will be part of the upcoming Aerospace Park in Nagpur and plans to develop an indigenous value-added supply chain, thereby building a strong base for the success of the Rafale programme under the Make in India initiative.
On Saturday, Parly will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wide-ranging talks ahead of the State visit of President Emmanuel Macron. She will also meet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
She would also visit the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai, were the Scorpene submarines are being made, and also visit the Western Naval Command.
The Scorpene submarines are being built with transfer of technology under the P75 project by MDL, in collaboration with French shipbuilding major, Naval Group (formerly DCNS).
She will also board the INS Kalvari, the first of the six Scorpene submarines to have been delivered to the Indian Navy.
—IANS
